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I LIBRARY OF CONGRESS.! 



[FORCE COLLECTION. 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



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THE TALLMADGE 

SEMI-CENTENNIAL 

COMMEMORATION 

JUNE 24, 1857. 



QMJ~&. 



PROCEEDINGS 



IN COMMEMORATION OF THE 



Fiftieth Anniversary 



OP THE 



ttltoiip m €>ul!nmw 



WITH THE 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSES 



HON. E N. SILL, AND REV. L. BACON, 

AND 

Biographical Sketches of the Early Settlers 

of the Township, by Amos Seward, Esq.; 

together with addresses, 

Correspondence, etc. 



.♦■•-. 



AKRON, 0: 
BEEBE& ELKINS, PRINTERS. 

1857. 



A 



PROCEEDINGS AT PRELIMINARY MEETINGS. 



The following named persons, viz: Amos Sewakd, Warren Sturte- 
vant, Daniel Upson. Samuel M. Bronson, Clark Sacket, Sylvester 
Barnes, William Wells and N. B. Stone, having been appointed a 
committee to take into consideration the propriety of celebrating the 
50th anniversary of the settlement of Tallmadge Township, agreeable 
to notice made report on the 29th day of Oct;, 1850, a3 follows: 

The committee to whom was referred the subject of noticing the 50th 
^anniversary of the settlement of the Township of Tallmadge having had 
under eOBsidaration the propriety of thus commemorating the epoch 
would respect I'ully report, that,— History sacred and profane, records 
the observance of important events, and we believe that the settlement 
of the place now nearly fifty years since, should be suitably observed. 
In so doing we pay a tribute of respect to the memory of those who 
laid the foundation of our prosperity and enjoyment, and leave an ex- 
ample for those to follow, who may fill our places in the coming half 
century. 

We therefore recommend that early measures be taken to suitably ob- 
serve the event sometime within the coming year A. D. 1857. 

Amos Seward, Chairman. 

Which report was accepted by the citizens present and the Town 
Clerk, L. C. Walton, Esq., was requested to give notice that on 
Thursday the 8th day of January, A. D. 1857, at 2 o'clock P. M. a 
meeting would be held in the Town Hall, to further take into consid- 
eration the subject matter above referred to. 

Pursuant to notice the citizens of Tallmadge met at the Town Hall 
at 2 o'clock P. M. of January 8th 1857, to further take into consider- 
ation the propriety of commemorating the 50th anniversary of the set- 
tlement of the Township. The meeting was organized by calling Mr. 



IV 

Lucius W. Hitchcock to the chair, and appointing N. B. Stone Sec- 
retary. On motion of Rev. C. Smith h was resolved that measures be 
taken to appropriately celebrate the 50th anniversary of the settlement 
of this Township. 

On motion a committee of seven was appointed to make necessary 
arrangements for the celebration, consisting of the following named per- 
sons: Amos Seward, Dr. Dan'l. Upson, Chas. C. Bronson, Sylvester 
Barnes, ErisiiA N. Sill, RoswellKent, and Nelson B. Stone; 

Resolved, That a majority of the committee shall form a quorum to 
transact business. 

Resolved, That discretion be given to the committee in determining the 
time when the celebration shall occur, whether in the month of June or 
September"next. 

It was resolved that a general invitation be given to the former res- 
idents of the township, to join us in the celebration, — and that the com- 
mittee extend special invitations to such persons as they may deem it 
desirable to have attend. And on further motion it was resolved that 
the adjoining Townships be invited to attend. 

Resolved, That the committee of arrangements be authorized to col- 
lect information, and transact the business necessary to perfect the cel- 
ebration of the 50th anniversary of Tallmadge; and when they shal\ 
deem it expedient, call a meeting of its citizens to make provisions for 
the accomodation of strangers and former citizens who may attend. 

The minutes of the proceedings having been read,on motion the meet- 
ing adjourned. 

L. W. HITCHCOCK, Pre*. 

N. B. Stone, Sec'ry. 

Tallmadge, Jan. 31st, 1857. 

The committee of arrangements met at the call of the chairman, 
Imos Seward, at the house of Dr. Ufson, at 2 P. M. Present, Messrs. 
Seward, Upson, Barnes, Br| nson and Stone. On consultation itwas 
unanimously agreed to have the celebration on the 24th day of June 
next, and that the Rev. Dr. L. Bacon of New Haven, Connecticut, be 
invited to deliver an address. On motion the chairman Was selected to 
correspond with him on the subject. 

On motion N. B. Stone was appointed corresponding Secretary, and 
to act as Secretary for the meetings of the committee. On further 
motion the committee adjourned to meet at Dr. Upson's again the 7th 
of next March, at 2 P. M. 

N. B. Stone, Sec'ry. 



Tallmadge, March 7 th, 1857. 

The committee met at Dr. Upson's, at 2 o'clock P. M. pursuant to 
adjournment. Present, Messrs. Seward, Upson, Barnes, Bronson and 
Stone. 

The chairman reported that in compliance with the resolution of the 
previous meeting, he had corresponded with Dr. Bacon, who had con- 
sented to be present at the coming celebration, and deliver an address. 

The following order of exercise is agreed upon: 

First, Prayer, 2nd, Vocal Music, 3d, Historical Address, 4th, Music 
by the Band, 5th, Address of Dr. L. Bacon, and then adjourn for re- 
freshments until afternoon. 

Afternoon exercise to consist of volunteer speeches interspersed with 
vocal and instrumental music. 

The chairman, Dr. Upson was appointed a committee to wait upon 
Hon. E. X. Sill, of Cuyahoga Falls, and inform him that he was se- 
lected by the committee of arrangements to deliver the Historical ad- 
dress. The Secretary was directed to address the leader of the Tall- 
raadge Band choir, on the subject of preparing music for the celebra- 
tion. Thereupon the meeting adjourned. 

N. B. Stone, Sec'ry. 

Tallmadge, April 18th, 1857. 
The committee of arrangements met at the call of the chairman, 
Amos Seward, at Dr. Upson's at 3 o'clock in the afternoon. Pres- 
ent, Messrs. Seward, Barnes, Bronson and Stone. On motion of 
Dr. Upson, Ira P. Sperr y was elected to act as Marshall at the coming 
celebration, with power to call to his aid such persons as he may deem 
necessary to enable him properly to discharge his duty. On motion it 
was resolved that a meeting of .the citizens be called on Saturday the 
30th day of May, at 1 o'clock P. M., for the purpose of making such fur- 
ther arrangements as may be thought expedient for the celebration, — 
and that the meeting be announced from the pulpits of the respective 
churches of the place, on the Sabbath next preceding, the time above 
mentioned. On motion the committee adjourned to met at the Congre- 
gational church on the first Sabbath in May, at 4 o'clock P. M. 

X. B. Stone, Sec'ry.' 

Tallmadge, May 2nd, 1857. 

Committee of arrangements met pursuant to adjournment, at the 

Congregational church. Present, Messrs. Seward, Upson, Barnes, 

Bronson and Stone; after general consultation in regard to various 

matters connected with tho celebration, without definite action, Rev 



8 



The Rev. Carlos Smith, of Tallmadge, called the assem- 
bly to order ; the CXVth Psalm was read by the Rev. Wm, 
Monks, of Tallmadge ; Prayer was offered by Rev. William 
Hanford, one of the oldest Clergymen of the Reserve ; the 
following Psalm was then sung by the Choir, to the tune of 
"Denmark:" 

100 PSALM— 2n VERSION. L. M. 

1. Before Jehovah's awful throne, 

Ye nations how with sacred joy; 
Know that the Lord is God alone. 
He can create, and he destroy. 

2. His sovereign power, without our aid, 

Made us of clay, and formed us men; 
And when, like wandering sheep, we strayed, 
He brought us to his fold again. 

3. We are his people, we his care, 

Our souls, and all our mortal frame; 
What lasting honors shall we rear, 
Almighty Maker, to thy name ! 

4. We'll crowd thy gates with thankful songs ; 

High as the Heavens our voice rises; 
And earth, with her ten thousand tongues, 
Shall fill thy courts with sounding praise. 

5. Wide as the world is thy command, 

Vast as eternity thy love ; 
Firm as a rock thy truth must stand, 
When rolling years shall cease to move. 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE, 

BY HON. ELISHA N. SILL. 

It is a rational curiosity that prompts us to study 
the records of the past. 

The universal laws of human sympathy bind us to 
man and his history. 

The impassive savage does not pass the burial 
mound of antiquity without stopping to add one more 
stone to the memorial pile. 

A prosperous and grateful people will, in thank- 
fulness, spontaneously and often call to mind the 
events of its history. 

Invaluable lessons for the future are found in its 
pages. 

Few communities can review their history with 
more satisfaction and advantage, few in such review 
can find greater cause for gratitude than can the cit- 
izens of this Township. 

There is therefore a special fitness in this semi-cen- 
tennial festival celebration of the settlement of Tall- 
madge, and review of its history. 



10 

The briefest possible sketch of a few leading points 
of the history of our country, will present the history 
of Tallin adge as it truly is — a part of the history of 
our country itself. 

It is now three and a half centuries since this conti- 
nent was discovered by Columbus. 

The first permanent settlements in North America 
by Europeans were made by the French,who in 1604 
and 1608, established colonies in Nova Scotia, upon 
the St. Lawrence. 

The settlement of New England was commenced at 
Plymouth, in 1620. 

The first recorded exploration of the valley of the 
Mississippi, was made in 1673, by Marquette, a 
French Missionary, who went from Mackinaw across 
Lake Michigan to Green Bay,and thence by theFox and 
Wisconsin Rivers to the Mississippi, which river he 
descended 1000 miles to the mouth of the Arkansas. 
Returning to Canada^ he strongly urged an imme- 
diate occupation of this vast and fertile valley. 

In 1679, (178 years since) La Salle, the French 
commandant of a fort on the North shore of Lake 
Erie, launched a vessel of 60 tons on this Lake, and 
proceeded by the Lakes to the South-western shore 
of Lake Michigan, and thence across the country to 
the Illinois River, and erected a fort on Lake 
Peoria, near the center of what is now the State of 
Illinois. 

This was the first civilized occupation of what has 
been usually termed the North-west territory of the 
United States. 



11 

The French had previously occupied Canada, and 
upon the reports of these early explorers, determin- 
ed to possess the whole country west of the English 
settlements, from the Gulf of Mexico to their own 
possessions north of the great lakes. As a result 
down to 1825, various settlements were made and 
forts erected upon the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers 
and upon the Lakes. 

In 1748 the Ohio Company was formed for the pur- 
pose of securing the trade of the Indian tribes. And 
in 1749 a trading house was built upon the great Mi- 
ami. This Avas the first English settlement in the 
State of Ohio. It was, however, broken up by the 
French in 1753. 

The first' permanent settlement in Ohio was made 
on the Ohio River, at the mouth of the Muskingum, 
in 1788, by Gen. Rufus Putnam. 

The State of Connecticut, by the charter granted 
by King Charles II (in 1662) extended between the 
14th and 42d parallels of North latitude to the Pacific 
Ocean — excepting such lands as were then held by 
prior grants. As a final adjustment of its claims un- 
der its charter, the State of Connecticut, in 1786, 
ceded to the U. S. all the land within these chartered 
limits, west of the State of Pennsylvania, excepting 
or reserving a tract about 120 miles in length, consti- 
tuting what has since been known as the Connecticut 
Western Reserve. 

This reserved territory (with the exception of half 
a million acres on the West side) was sold by the State 
in 1795, to the Connecticut Land Company. 



[2 

The first settlements of the Western Reserve were 
made in 1796, at Conneaut,AshtabulaCo.,Youngstown, 
Mahoning Co., and at Cleveland and Bedford in Cuy- 
ahoga Co. 

In 1790 but one white person lived within the limits 
of Portage and Summit Counties. But in this year set- 
tlements were commenced at Atwater, Deerfield,Hud- 
son, Mantua, Palmyra and Ravenna. At this time 
the entire white population of the Reserve did not 
probably exceed 200. 

Trumbull Co. originally comprising within its lim- 
its the whole of the Reserve, was formed in 1800, at 
which time the town of Warren contained two log 
c abins with 16 white inhabitants. 

Portage Co., was formed from Trumbull, in 1807. 
It contained perhaps 1000 inhabitants, located at the 
few points named, but was otherwise an unbroken 
forest. 

It was in this year — now just half a century since, 
that a single family was making its difficult way to 
this Township, then without white inhabitant. 

This was the family of the Rev. David Bacon; con- 
sisting of himself and wife Mrs. Alice Bacon, and 
three children, a son and two daughters. And it is 
certainly not the least interesting circumstance of 
this occasion, that three of this pioneer family should 
be present at this festival ; — the son, now the Rev. 
Leonard Bacon, of New Haven, Connecticut, to be, 
as most fitting, the orator of the da} 7 ; — one of the two 
daughters, now Mrs. Julia Bacon Woodruff, of Cu- 
ba, N. Y., who, but a child of six months at her fath- 



13 

ers arrival in the Township,who now revisits the place 
of her earliest recollections— and a younger daugh- 
ter, Mrs. Alice Bacon Peck, of Rochester, N. Y., one 
of the first native citizens of Tallin adge, who comes, 
with her brother and sister,to unite in this celebration 
of the settlement of the place of her nativity. 

In the distribution of their lands, by the Connec- 
ticut Land Company— Township No. 2 in Range 10, 
was drawn by the Brace Company, consisting of Jon- 
athan Brace, Justin Ely, Roger Newberry, Elijah 
White and Enoch Perkins, and by Azariah Rockwell, 
Abram Root, Oliver Dickinson and Stephen W. James, 
— which last parties assigned their interest to^Ben- 
jamin Tallmadge of Litchfield, Conn., and Ephraim 
Starr, of Goshen, Conn. 

Mr. i>ACON who was a missionary from Connecti- 
cut, to the Western settlements, had conceived, the 
idea of anticipating missionary efforts, by establish- 
ing a colony in which the religious element should be 
incorporated in its foundation, as well as the control- 
ling principle of its future growth. In the prose- 
cution of his plans, Mr. Bacon, on the 12th of July, 
1806, contracted with Mr. Starr, and soon afterwards 
with Mr, Tallmadge, for the purchase of their entire 
interest in the Township, and with the Brace Co. for 
a part of their interest— in all for about 12,000 acres, 
at the price of one dollar and fifty cents per acre. — 
At this time Mr. Bacon gave the name of Tall- 
madge to the Township, after the name of its largest 
proprietor — who had owned and from whom he had 
purchased 6245 acres. 



14 

It was the intention of Mr. Bacon to secure colo- 
nists of a religious character, and of a common relig- 
ious sentiment. 

The boundary lines of theTownship were probably 
surveyed in 1797, and within a few years afterwards, 
probably before 1805, the Township was laid out, un- 
der the direction of Gen. Simon Perkins, into twenty^ 
five sections of one mile square, by Caleb Palmer, Sur- 
veyor. 

In November, 1806, Mr. Bacon had anew sub-di- 
vision of the Township made by Seth L. Ensign, Sur- 
veyor, into sixteen large lots of one and a quarter 
miles square, and containing one thousand acres 
each. 

This last survey has been recognized in all subse- 
quent sales and sub-divisions. 

Roads were established on each interior line of the 
large lots, and from each corner of the Township, to a 
Public Square of 7? acres at the center. Thegreat 
lots were generally sub-divided into six smaller lots 
— excepting those at the center, which were divided 
into lots of a few acres each, for the accommodation of 
mechanics and professional men, who were expected 
to locate here. 

Slight as the relation may appear to a hasty ob- 
rsever, his plan of the Township, which may well be 
termed a model, has undoubtedly produced a marked, 
abiding and beneficial effect upon the character of its 
inhabitants, and furnishes evidences of the absorb- 
ing idea and sagacity of its author. 



15 

The greatest possible facility for intercommunica- 
tion being, by this plan, furnished to all sections of 
the Township — the unity of sentiment and purpose 
of its citizens, otherwise so carefully sought after, has 
been secured as it scarcely could have been under oth- 
er conditions. 

On his arrival, Mr. Bacon erected his dwelling, a 
log cabin, on the south line of the Township, one 
half mile west of the north and south center road. 

In the fall of this same year, George Boosinger 
built a cabin and put in a piece of wheat at the south- 
east corner of the Township. He did not, however, 
remain in the Township during the following winter. 

Mr. Bacon was therefore not only the founder of 
the Township, but actually the pioneer of his own en- 
terprize. 

During the following year A. D. 1808, Dr. A. C. 
Wright, Jos. Hart, Aaron Norton, Chas. Chittenden, 
Jonathan Sprague, Nathaniel Chapman and his father 
and sons,Wm. Niel, Moses Bradford, Ephraim Clark, 
Jr., Geo. Kilbourn, Capt. John Wright, Alpha Wright, 
and Eli Hill, came into the Township. 

During the year 1809, there arrived Jotham Blakes- 
lee and his uncle of the same name, Conrad Boosinger, 
Edmund Strong, John Wright Jr., Stephen Upson, 
Theron Bradley, and Peter Norton. And during the 
year 1810, Elizur Wright, Justus Barnes, Shubael H. 
Lowrey, David Preston Sen., John Preston and three 
sons, Drake Fellows ,Sam'l. McCoy, Luther Chamber- 
lain, Rial McArthur and* John Bradley. In 1811 
Deacon S. Sacket and sons. Dan'l. Beach, John Car- 



1G 

ruthers and Asa Gillett, and perhaps some others, coii s 
stituting some thirty families ; which located, three 
North of the center, five South-east of the center, thir- 
teen South, and ten South-west of the center. 

Of these colonists, with two exceptions, all were of 
New England origin — not only resolute men, for that 
is the ordinary characteristic of pioneers, but men of 
resolute piety — descendents of the puritans. 

One of the first acts of these colonists was the or- 
ganization of a church. This was done on the 21st 
of January, 1809, when Geo. and Alice Kilbourn, 
Justin E. Frink, Alice Bacon, wife of the Rev. Mr. 
Bacon, Hepzibah Chapman, Amos and Lydia Wright, 
and Ephraim and Ada Clark associated themselves 
as the " church of Christ, in Tallmadge." Nathaniel 
Chapman, Jonathan Sprague, Aaron Norton and John 
Jr., and Salome Wright were added to their number 
in June of the same year. 

The church, thus early established, though not in- 
cluding the entire colony, was really the basis of the 
colony, giving it its true character from the beginning. 
Individuals not connected with the church, were 
yet actively united with it in sustaining the institu- 
tions of religion, and a regular mode of contributing 
to its support, was adopted by the formation of a 
society under the name of the Congregational Society 
of Tallmadge, — with a voluntary system of taxation 
upon persons and property, and raising from two to 
four hundred dollars per annum. 

The value affixed to property for the purpose of 
assessing this tax is found in the records of the Soci- 
etvofl819: 



17 

Cleared land, ' - - .- - ^15,00 per acre. 

Land girdled and underbrusbed, - 10,00 " " 

Timber land, - 4,00 " < ; 

Horses 3 years old and upward, - 30,00 eacb, 

Oxen 4 " - - - - - 20,00 •' 

Steers and Cows of 3 " - - 15,00 " 
Buildings to be valued by listers. 

Lucrative employments, other than farming, to be 
listed by their profits as compared with those of far- 
ming. 

The Rev. Simeon - Woodruff, was the first settled 
minister in Tallmadge. He was installed as the Pas- 
tor of the Congregational Church, in May 1814, at the 
barn of Ephraim Clark Jr., then being on the parson- 
age lot one-third of a mile South of the center. 

That to this early and earnest recognition of relig- 
ious obligations by these pioneers, is to be attributed 
the present elevated religious and moral character and 
position of the Township, there exists no question. 

Religious meetings were regularly held in houses 
and barns in various parts of the town, until the com- 
pletion in 1815, of an Academy building, erected upon 
the ground now occupied by the Congregational 
Church. 

A log Meeting House was commenced in 1814, locat- 
ed about one-fourth of a mile west of the first south four 
corners. This location being central to the population 
at that period. It was never finished nor occupied. 

Other churches have been organized within the 
Township at various subsequent dates. 

A Methodist Church, in March 1827; a Methodist 
at Middlebury, date unknown ; a Presbyterian at 
Middlebury, Dec. 15th 1831 ; a Congregational at 



18 

Cuyahoga Falls, Feb. 14th, 1834 ; a Congregational, at 
Midcllebury, Dec. 25th, 1845. 

All of these Churches have commodious houses of 
worship, and maintain regular religious services. 

Two Welch Churches, a Baptist and a Presbyterian, 
have at times maintained separate religious meetings. 
The Welch Presbyterians have now a meeting house 
at the North-west six corners, and sustain preaching 
in the Welch language. 

The subject of education held only a second place 
with these pioneers. In the spring of 1810, a log 
school house was put up on ground in the present 
door yard of Mr. John Randall, near the first South 
four corners; and the first public school was commenc- 
ed. It was taught by Miss Lucy Foster, now Mrs. 
Alpha Wright. 

In the same season another school house was built 
and occupied, on the hill, near the south-west four cor- 
ners. Since which time, as the wants of the inhab- 
itants have demanded, school houses and teachers 
have been provided for every section of the Town- 
ship. 

The academy, as already incidentally mentioned, 
was commenced in 1814, and under the care of Sal- 
mon Sacket and Martin Camp, the building commit- 
tee, it was finished in 1815. It was designed and ar- 
ranged for two schools, of different grades, and for a 
temporary place of holding religious meetings. 

The Academy school w r as successively and ably 
taught, by Rev. Simeon Woodruff and Deacon Elizuk 
Wright. 



19 

At the period of its establishment and for some 
years it was perhaps the best school upon the Reserve. 
At various times it received pupils from Cleveland, 
Warren, Medina and other places. 

This building was burned down in 1820; but, im- 
mediately rebuilt; it has ever been maintained, con- 
tributing equally to the advantage and reputation of 
its founders. 

A Township Library was established Sept. 2G, 1813, 
containing about 70 volumnsof standard works. The 
books were drawn and returned quarterly. 

Soon after a Ladies' Library was formed. These 
Libraries being united, constituted the present public 
Library of the Township. 

Shortly after the establishment of this Library, a 
Lyceum or Debating Society was formed. Its meet- 
ings were held regularly during the winter months. 

For civil purposes, Tallmadge was at first included 
in the organization of Hudson, then extending over 
nearly the whole of the territory within the subse- 
quent limits of Portage County — afterwards in that 
of Randolph, which included Brimfield, Suffield, 
Springfield and Tallmadge. And again Springfield 
and Tallmadge together had a common organization. 

The separate civil organization of Tallmadge, was 
effected Nov. 11th, 1813. 

An independent Rifle Company, of which Rial Mc 
Arthur was Capt., was formed at an early date. 

A Post Office was established at the center, in 
April, 1814. Mr. Asaph Whittlesey was appointed 
Post Master, and held the office until his death in 
1842. 



■20 

Thus early, so complete was the settlement of the 
Township established — with its churches^ and a reg- 
ular system for the support of religious institutions ; 
its public schools of two grades; its libraries and lit- 
erary society; and with its civil and military organ- 
izations. 

Of the aboriginal inhabitants few probably had ev- 
er inhabited this part of the country even prior to the 
surrender of their title to the whites. There are in- 
deed evidences that, at some remote period, this coun- 
try was occupied by a people more numerous and of a 
higher type of civilization — but this is true of Indi- 
ans who occupied the country at the time of its set- 
tlement by the whites. This had been the border 
ground of different tribes, and was otherwise an unfa- 
vorable location for a large people depending mainly 
upon hunting for a subsistence. Wild game, though 
seemingly abundant to the whites, was yet too limit- 
ed for the wants of a larger population. 

Living partly by a rude cultivation of the soil and 
by fishing, as well as by hunting, the Indians pre- 
fered the open and fertile bottom land of rivers and 
lakes. 

There were indeed some small and scattered vil- 
lages or encampments of Indians in this vicinity. A 
small number of Senecas lived near the junction of 
the main and little Cuyahoga, at or near the place 
somewhat widely know in modern times as the Chuck- 
ery. 

An anecdote of Stickinish the chief of these Indians 
has been related to me, which seems to furnish evi- 



21 

dence of somewhat higher moral perceptions than has 
always been ascribed to untaught Indians: 

Stickinish was friendly to the whites, and often 
visited the settlement at Hudson. 

It was at just about the time of the first settlement 
of Tallmadge, that this chief was at the house of a Mr. 
Pease in Hudson, and to persuade a son of Mr. Pease, a 
child of some 4 or 5 j^ears of age, to come and sit up- 
on his lap, he offered to give him his pipe hatchet. — 
The offer proved sufficient to overcome the repug- 
nance of the child, to the swarthy face of the Indian. 
As the chief was about to leave, the return of the 
hatchet was proffered but resolutely refused — Stickin- 
ish saying 'miusn't lie to children — no good." This 
native chief had scarcely learned this precept from 
the whites, however frequently in his intercourse with 
them he might have had illustrations of its truth — 
and he who so carefuly obeyed it could scarcely have 
been a savage. 

Mr. 8. Pease of Cuyahoga Falls, was the recipient 
of the chief's hatchet. 

Two well worn trails, or Indian roads passed thro' 
this Township. One entered near its North-east cor- 
ner, upon the South bank of the Cuyahoga river, fol- 
lowing it to the head of canal navigation and the 
great Portage Path, between the Cuyahoga and the 
Muskingum rivers. 

The other trail having a similar relation to the lit- 
tle Cuyahoga river, but leaving it to avoid a bend of 
that stream to the South, entered the Township on 
its South line west of the center, and running to the 



i>2 

north-west, united with the other path upon the main 
Cuyahoga. 

With the Indians occupying this region, no diffi- 
culties of a general character ever occurred, and the 
friendly intercourse subsisting between them and the 
whites — secured and maintained by the general good 
faith of the early settlers, and their careful obser- 
vance of treaty stipulations, — was seldom interrupt- 
ed even by difficulties between individuals of the two 
races. 

Indeed, everything had conspired to favor the set- 
tlement, not merely of this Township but of this 
whole region — nothing interrupting its rapid and 
peaceful progress until the occurrence of the war be- 
tAveen England and the United States, in 1812. 

The title of the six nations, relinquished to the 
Ohio Land Company, by treaty at Buffalo, in 1796, 
extended Westward only to the Cuyahoga and Mus- 
kingum rivers. These rivers, with the Portage path, 
being the original boundary line between these tribes 
and the Wyandots, and their allies., and a neutral high- 
way for these nations in their passage between the 
Lake and the interior of the State and the Ohio 
river. This boundary line necessarily limited the 
early settlement by the whites — and although the 
Wyandot title had been surrendered to the country 
West of this line, few settlements had been extended 
beyond it. 

A few remote points had been occupied between 
Cleveland and Detroit. Judge Harris had erected a 
house, and commenced a clearing at Harrisville, now 



25 

In Medina County. A. M. Van Hining had located 
on Wolf Creek — and a family of hunters between that 
point and Middlebury. With that exception an un- 
broken forest extended to the far West. 

On the surrender of the American army, by Gen. 
Hull, at Detroit, in Aug. 1812, the western Indians 
generally attached themselves to the British cause, and 
uniting with their force, became the most dreaded ene- 
mies of the pioneer white settlers. 

Immediate measures for defence were adopted. — 
Maj. Gen. Wadsworth, commanding the fourth Di- 
vision of Ohio Militia, was ordered to protect the 
Frontiers, and for that purpose to organize a Brigade 
of fifteen hundred men. Drafts were made and Vol- 
unteers called for, to meet this service. 

The Independent Rifle Company of Tallmadge, 
volunteered in a body, and were ordered, first to Cleve- 
land, and afterwards to Old Portage, the head quar- 
ters of Gen. Wadsworth ; and finally to the camp of 
Gen. Simon Perkins, a temporary post upon the Hu- 
ron River. This Company set out for the Perkins' 
Camp on the first of October, and remained there until 
winter. A short tour of duty in the following spring 
completed their bloodless, but arduous services in the 
field. 

The following persons belonged to this Tallmadge 
Rifle Company : Rial McArthur, Capt., Chas. Powers 
Lieut., and Privates Almon Norton, Alpha Wright, 
Justin Barnes, Justin E. Frink, Shubael H. Lowrey, 
Titus Chapman, Sam'l. and Lot Preston, Liberton 
Dickson, Joseph Tousley, Edmund Strong and Sam'l. 



24 

Fogger, and some others from adjacent settlements. 

Among those drafted from the general Militia, and 
who served at Old Portage and elsewhere were Reuben 
Upson, John Caruthers, Norman Sackett, Moses Brad- 
ford, Asa Gillet, and Jotham Blakeslee. 

An event occurred, soon after Hull's traitorous sur- 
render, which well illustrates the prompt, energetic 
and fearless character of the fathers of Tallmadge. 
The American prisoners, released on parole, were sent 
from Detroit to Cleveland by the Lake. As the ves- 
sels conveying these soldiers were seen approaching 
Cleveland, its inhabitants supposing them to be ves- 
sels of the enemy contemplating an attack upon- that 
place, immediatly dispatched expresses to the nearest 
interior settlements appraising of their supposed dan- 
ger and soliciting aid. The Messenger reached Tall- 
madge on the Sabbath, and while the citizens were 
engaged in religious worship in the barn of Deacon 
Elizur Wright. The services were concluded, and 
the men of the colony immediately made preparation 
with such weapons as they could command, to march 
to the defence of Cleveland. 

A second despatch advising the citizens of the facts, 
removed the necessity for the march, for which they 
had so thoroughly prepared. 

The following correspondence between the citizens 
of Tallmadge and Gen. Wadsworth, is doubly inter- 
esting, as showing the exposed situation of the Tall- 
madge settlement at the commencement of the war, 
and because, through the polite attention of Mr. 
Fredk. Wadsworth, we have the original letters from 
the citizens, and the autographs of the signers : 



2o 

To the Honorable Major General Elijah Wadsworth, Esq.: 

Sir : — We your 
petitioners humbly Pray you that you will take into your consideration 
the defenceless situation We are in, therefore We pray your Honor to 
issue orders for Capt. Rial McArthur's Independent Company, and the 
4th Company of the Independent Battalion,4th Brigade and 4th Division 
of Ohio Militia Commanded by Capt. Samuel Hale to be retained for 
Public safety as We are the frontiers, that said Companies be drilled 
one day in each week, and hold themselves in constant readiness in case 
of an attack to March at a Moments warning. Those families that 
were to the West of Us have moved into the settlement and we have 
become the Frontiers Therefore We your Petitioners wish you to take 
it into consideration and act as in your Wisdom You shal see fit 

Petitioners Names 
Springfield, 13th July 1812. NATH'L CHAPMAN 

AARON NORTON 
DAVID PRESTON 
AMOS SPICER 
HOSE A WILCOX 
JONATHAN SPRAGUE 
PETER NORTON 
PHILANDER ADAMS 
JESSE NEAL 
CHS. CHITTENDEN 
HENRY CHITTENDEN 
ELIZUR WRIGHT 
JOHN WRIGHT 

Cap'x. Rial Mc Arthur, — 

Siu : — You doubtless are sensible of the 
critical situation of our country at this time. War being declared by 
the United States, against Great Britain, it becomes necessary, as we 
have become the frontier, for the whole body of the Militia to be in per- 
fect readiness to meet the enemy, and Sir, Your being an independent 
Company, I place great confidence in your ability and activity in being 
perfectly, with your Company, ready to march and meet the enemy of 
your Country, at a moments warning. You will therefore please to 
order your Company to meet at any place you may think proper and 
convenient, one day in every week, and in the most perfect manner 
possible. See that every man furnishes himself with arms and ammuni- 
tion and other necessary accoutrements for actual service. You will 
please to inform me, after the first meeting of your Company, their actu- 
al situation. 

ropy. ELIJAH WADSWORTH, 

Maj'r Gen'l 4th Division Ohio Mili tia. 



26 

Tallmadge, July 13th, 1812. 
Dear Sir : — In addition to the information contained in the Peti- 
tion which accompanies this, I have to inform you that if so large a por- 
tion as one whole Company is called away it will leave us quite in a 
defenceless situation both on account of men and more particularly on 
account of arms. Capt. McArthur's Company are but in part furnished 
with arms — if he should be ordered to march and be furnished with 
guns from this place it will take about all that we have. We are now 
the frontier, it seems highly requisite that we should be furnished with 
the means of defence. If you know where any gnus can be procured be 
pleased to give us information. With sentiments of respect I am, Sir, 
your friend and humble Serv't, ELIZUK WRIGHT, 

Gen'l. Elijah Wadsworth. 

Canfield, 13th July, 1812, 

Esqr. Wright, 

Sir — I have this evening ree'd a line from you, also 
a petition from sundry of the good people of Tallmadge, I have consid- 
ered their situation, and believe it like critical with this section of the 
Union. Sir I have the greatest confidence in the whole body of the 
Militia of our Country, and of their being able and willing to defend 
their just rights, with this confidence Sir you will ever find me uniting 
all my efforts in defending the just rights of our Country and give every 
protection in my power. By the bearer I send a order to Cap'n Mc Ar- 
thur to put his Company in perfect order for an immediate march. You 
wish to be informed if I know of any arms that can be procured, — I can 
answer that I do not at this time, but believe they can be procured at 
Pittsburgh. Yours, &c. 

copy. E. W. 

The accession of new settlers was ordinarily quite 
uniform, •''until the years 1819-20, when twenty-three 
families arrived, almost in a body — ten families com- 
ing from Middlebuiy and vicinity, and thirteen from 
Old Milford, C't. Those from Micldlebury locating in 
the N. E "quarter, and those from Milford in the S. 
W. "quarter of the township. 

The population had become so large by 1819, that 
the Academy no longer furnished sufficient room for 



27 

the congregation worshiping in it on the Sabbath, and 
measures were commenced for erecting a church buil- 
ding. On the last Sabbath in that year, the Pastor of 
the Church, Rev. Simeon Woodruff, preached upon the 
subject— his text was Isaiah IX, 20, " The place is 
too straight." A public meeting followed ; a commit- 
tee, consisting of Salmon Sackett, Peck Fenn, Lemu- 
el Porter, Asaph Whittlesey, Reuben Beach, Amos 
C. Wright and Amos Seward, was appointed to select 
a location and adopt a design for the house, and a 
plan of proceedings to secure its erection. Of this 
committee, the only living member is Amos Seward. 

The location selected, was on the east side of the 
public square, north of the E. and W. centre road, 
afterward changed to the north side, where the Con- 
gregational Church now stands — the Academy build- 
ing previously occupying that location, having been 
burned on the morning after the first location for the 
church, had been selected. 

A subscription of $3500, was obtained for the buil- 
ding, payable in labor, lumber and wheat — viz : $500 
in 1820; $800 in 1821; $1500 in 1822; and the 
balance in 1823. At this time, wheat, the standard of 
values, could not be converted into cash, at more than 
25 cents per bushel. This was a very large sum to 
be raised, and furnishes a good indication of the char- 
acter of the inhabitants of that period. The fathers 
had not then fallen asleep, and the new generation 
coming into place, were then as they ever have been, 
emulous of their virtues and their example. 

These preliminaries being arranged, a building com- 



niittee was appointed, consisting of Reuben Beach, 
Peck Fenn, Lemuel Porter, Asaph Whittlesey, Aaron 
Hine, Richard Fenn and Amos Seward; and the work 
was immediately commenced. Of this committee 
Mr. Seward and Ricriard Fenn, are the only living 
representatives. 

Samuel Porter, Lebbius Saxton, Joseph Richard- 
son and Wyllis Fenn, were builders of the house. 

The work commenced in April, 1822, and was fin- 
ished in August, 1825. It was dedicated September 
8, 1825. The Rev. John" Keys, was then Pastor of 
the Church. The Church was re-modeled in 1849. 

Some incidents connected with the erection of this 
house, are worthy of being narrated, as illustrative of 
the character of the inhabitants, and of the times in 
which they lived. 

Timber for the Church having been selected in the 
forest and marked, Monday, the 24th day of Decem- 
ber 1821, was appointed for a volunteer gathering, or 
" bee," to cut and draw the timber to the site selected 
for the house. The point of honor was to have the 
first stick of timber upon the ground. 

Before 1 o'clock in the morning, timber had been 
brought upon the site, from each of the eight roads 
coming into the public square. Amadeus N. Sperry, 
winning the honors of the occasion. 

Before sunset, timber enough, was upon the site 
of the house. 

It was designed to have the siding for the house, 
made from a single tree ; and a noble white-wood was 
selected upon the farm of Deac. Sackett, (now own- 



29 

ed by Mr. Andrew Treat,) having ample material for 
this purpose. The waste, however, occasioned by cut- 
ting down the logs to the capacity of the saw mill, 
unadapted to such giants of the forest, prevented the 
entire accomplishment of this design. 

This tree, at that time still in a green and vigorous 
age, must have been a lofty tree when Columbus was 
searching for the shores of our Continent, having its 
birth, perhaps, centuries before, and had brought down 
to these later times, its silent, but sure record, of all 
those passing years. And, although the wealth treas- 
ured up in these noble trees, during the slow progress 
of centuries, could have no more appropriate applica- 
tion, than to the temples of the God who planted and 
reared them, yet it awakens emotions of sadness to 
see these monuments of the great past, these connect- 
ing links of succeeding centuries, hewn down and des- 
troyed; 

During the progress of the work upon the house 
there was a " strike" among the workmen — not for 
higher wages but for wool. This not being produced 
in sufficient quantity to supply the domestic demand, 
could scarcely be bought for money, and not at all for 
less valuable articles of exchange. This was felt, 
however, to be a case demanding sacrifices, and the 
building committee, with much effort, obtained enough 
to relieve the absolute wants of the men, and the work 
progressed. 

The number of sheep in Tallmadge, in 1856, was 
over six thousand. 

The wild game of the country, though a source of 



so 

some convenience to the inhabitants, by contributing 
to their supply of animal food, was yet a source of 
material damage, and sometimes of danger. Wild 
turkeys were sufficiently abundant at times to destroy 
the newly planted fields of grain. Deer were also 
abundant. As late as 1829, a single hunter in North- 
ampton, during one winter, killed fifty deer. At that 
date a saddle of venison commanded a less price than 
mutton, and to the fore quarter there was no market 
value. 

Wolves fortunately were not very numerous, though 
sometimes seen in the neighborhood of the settlements 
in pursuit of mutton, which they seemed to prefer to 
venison, or what is more probable, because sheep were 
more easily caught and therefore a prey better suited 
to the lazy, prodigal habits of all wolfish oppressors 
of the weak and defenceless. 

Mr. Martin Camp, had, in one night, twelve of his 
sheep killed by these marauders, and others suffered 
losses of the same kind. 

Bears were more common, and though perhaps not 
known to make unprovoked attacks upon man, had 
the highest relish for his pork, and made themselves 
ample amends for the breaking up of their old haunts 
and hunting grounds, by levying frequent contributions 
upon the hog pens of these new disturbers of their 
ancient quiet. 

It is wholly incredible, except for the most reliable 
testimony, that a bear could carry off, and through a 
forest, a hog equaling himself in weight, faster than 
a man on foot could follow — vet such are the uncon- 



51 

tradicted statements of our pioneer settlers, and we 
are not disposed to question them. It may, perhaps, 
be allowable to question whether even a courageous 
man, wholly unarmed, could follow into the forest an 
animal of such ferocity and strength, quite as fast as 
he might some more agreeable objects of pursuit. 

Many exciting adventures are related of the early 
settlers, and chiefly those which occurred in their con- 
flicts with these animals. 

The inhabitants of the township, though not en- 
tirely exempt from the diseases of a new country, 
have enjoyed more than usual health and longevity, 
and with few exceptions, have escaped fatal epidem- 
ics. Down to 1816, none of the first male settlers 
had died from ordinary disease. It is known that 
there have been sixteen males and probably a greater 
number of females, who have lived to be more than 
80 years of age. 

Mr. Mills Bettis died at the age of 94 ; Mrs. Fel- 
lows at the age of 93. 

The first death in the township was that of Mr. 
Titus Chapman, Nov. 4, 1808. He was buried at 
Middlebury. 

The first interments in the center burying ground, 
then located on the S. W. diagonal road, west of its 
present location, were two infant children of Dr. A. 
C Wright ; who died, one in October, and the other 
in November, 1812. 

The early settlers were fortunate in having a skil- 
ful physician in one of their own number ;— Div 
Amos C. Wright. This advantage cannot be better 



82 

illustrated than by an extract from reminiscences of 
the early settlers of Cleveland, which I find in a re- 
cent number of the iV. Y. Tribune ; 

" In passing from New York to this place, either by the Erie or the 
Central road, making the distance in less than thirty hours, the travel- 
er recalls the tedious journeys of the pioneers over the same route. 
The first family that settled at Cleveland took ninety-two days in their 
journey from Chatham, Conn., to Cleveland. At a later day the father 
of Leonard Bacon, D. D., who was one of the pioneer clergymen on 
the Western Reserve, had a very long and tedious journey from Con- 
necticut to the field of his labor. I have somewhere seen a detailed 
account of that journey. In those days ox teams were thought to be 
the best adapted, all things considered, to this journey. It makes one 
nervous to think of crawling at such a snail's pace through unbroken 
wildernesses to so distant a termkius as was Cleveland, Cincinnati or 
Columbus. The hardships of the early settlers of the Western Reserve 
were very great. At that time the chills and fever were regardad as 
the lightest of calamities, when contrasted with the bilious fever which 
prevailed extensively. These diseases run their course in most cases 
without medical aid, because it was impossible to get that aid. The 
food was of the coarsest kind, so much so that " hog and hominy" be- 
came a proverb. Our families in this day would consider themselves 
hardly dealt by to be compelled to live on corn meal made in a hand- 
mill, especially if compelled to go miles to procure this corn, making 
the trips between the daily fits of the ague. Yet, to such extremes 
were the early settlers of Cleveland reduced. They had no physicians. 
For calomel they used an extract of butternut bark, and for quinine 
they used a bitter made of dogwood and cherry bark. And now that 
I am speaking of the medical comforts of the Ohio pioneers, I may say 
that as late as 1820, Dr. Hildreth, of Marietta, has frequently rode 
twenty and thirty miles to attend the sick, and in some cases to camp 
out over night. When a physician was not more than ten miles away 
the settler thought himself well off in case of sickness." 

John Barr, Esq., of Cleveland, in his collection of 
facts concerning the early settlement of the Western 
Reserve, says, " during the period of 12 years from 
the first settlement of Cleveland, in 179G, the nearest 
settled physicians were at Hudson, twenty-four miles, 



33 

and at Austinburgh, about fifty miles distant." 

The first marriage in the township was that of 
John Collins and Sally Chapman. They were mar- 
ried before a Mr. Harris, a magistrate of Randolph. 

It is well worthy of being mentioned that the first 
school in this State, for the education of deaf-mutes, 
was established in this township. At a meeting held 
in the spring of 1827, a committee, consisting of the 
Rev. John Keys, Dea. Elizur Wright, Dr. Amos C. 
Wright, Alpha Wright and Garry Treat, was appoint- 
ed to secure to this class of unfortunates the benefits 
of instruction. 

Under their management a school was established 
with twelve scholars, under the care of Mr. C. Smith, 
an educated deaf-mute. It was kept one season at the 
house of Alpha Wright, and one at the house of Dr. 
A. C. Wright. In the year 1828, the legislature ap- 
propriated $100 towards its support. Upon the es- 
tablishment of the State Institution the pupils were 
transferred to Columbus. 

The first newspaper published in this County was 
printed at Middlebury, in this township. It was ed- 
ited and published by Ozias Bowen, since Judge of 
the Supreme Court of the State, and Elijah Mason, 
under the title of the " Portage Journal." This pa- 
per was continued for several years. At subsequent 
periods other papers have been published at Cuyahoga 
Falls, then a part of Tallmadge. 

In all benevolent enterprises the citizens of Tall- 
madge have ever been generous, prompt, and self-reli- 
ant. Not moved spasmodically, but from the begining 
3 



34 

having self-moving associations, without reference to 
denominational preferences, for the support of mis- 
sions, the distribution of bibles and tracts, and other 
similar objects. These associations, since 1834, have 
been consolidated in the " Tallmadge Benevolent 
Association," — embracing the whole township, but di- 
vided into four collection districts, in which are col- 
lected, in every alternate month, contributions for 
the "American Bible Society," " Home and Foreign 
Missions," " The Education and Tract Society," and 
the " Seaman's Friend Society." 

The contributions for these purposes, in 1835, the 
first year after the formation of this consolidated 
Association, amounted to five hundred and thirty-six 
dollars and twenty-nine cents. Of which sum about 
one-third was contributed by Ladies. 

The township has been frequently represented in 
the State Legislature. During one-third of the time 
from its civil organization to the present date, a mem- 
ber of the Senate or of the House of Representatives, 
has been elected from Tallmadge. 

Aaron Norton was Senator in 1824, at the session 
memorable for the adoption of the system of public 
improvements. Gregory Powers was Senator in 
1838, at which session the so called " Black Laws," 
which for a number of years disgraced our Statute 
Book, were enacted. Mr. Powers, in this matter, 
faithfully represented his constituents, and most cer- 
tainly those of his own township. He strenuously, 
though unsuccessfully, opposed the passage of those 
laws. 



35 



The unanimity of the inhabitants, so well illustrated 
in their benincent organizations, has been, perhaps, 
more strikingly exhibited in their political action, as 
it is here that we must expect the most marked ex- 
hibition of difference of sentiment. 

While the township was entire, the vote at the 
Gubernatorial election, in 1840, was, for Corwin 319, 
for Shannon 71. After Middlebury and Cuyahoga 
Falls were made separate election districts, the vote, 
in 1856 at the Presidential election, was, for Fre- 
mont 209, for Buchanan 25; and, at the previous 
State election, which probably furnishes a more cor- 
rect indication, the vote for Judge of the Supreme 
Court was, Republican 210, Democratic lo. 

It is believed that few election districts in the 
country, equally populous, have exhibited equal una- 
nimity of sentiment. 

The township has always abounded m elements ot 
material prosperity. The soil is well adapted to the 
miscellaneous and profitable New England husband- 
ry adopted by its inhabitants, and has been brought 
under general and successful cultivation. This is 
well indicated by the returns of the aggregate value 
of the property of the township, upon the last tax 
list of 1856, which, exclusive of that part now set 
off 'to the new township of Cuyahoga Falls, exhibits, 
at taxation values, lands worth $443,551; town lots 
$28,386; personal property $243,964 ; total$71o 901. 
. Excellent and inexhaustible quarries of stone have 
been worked from an early date. 

Beds of iron ore, though limited in extent, have 



30 

been wrought at Various times. A furnace was erect- 
ed near Middlebury as early as 1816, by Messrs. 
Laird & Norton, and was operated for several years. 

In 1817 Asaph Whittlesey, in connection with 
Laird & Norton, built a forge on the Little Cuyahoga 
one and a half miles below the furnace. 

The beds of mineral coal, in the township, have 
both directly and indirectly contributed largely to its 
wealth. Coal was discovered at a very early day, 
near the south-east corner of the township, and after- 
wards one mile west of the center. This last bed, 
belonging chiefly to Dr. Daniel Upson, is of some 
five hundred acres in extent and from four to five feet 
in thickness, and of very superior quality. It has 
been, and still is extensively worked. 

The more extensive operations in mining this coal 
were commenced by Dr. Upson, in 1837, and contin- 
ued, after 1840, by a corporate Company, named "The 
Tallmadge Coal Company," who have shipped large 
quantities by a railroad constructed from the mines 
to the canal, and thence by the canal to Cleveland. 
The Tallmadge coal was the first extensively brought 
into use by the steamboats upon the lakes. During 
the year 1841 the Western Transportation Company 
consumed 3,000 tons upon their steamboats. In 1855 
these mines produced 23,000 tons, and since 1840 
have produced a total of over 300,000 tons, from six- 
ty acres of this field. Upson Brothers, now owning 
the entire stock of the " Tallmadge Coal Company," 
operate these mines ; employing sixty-five men, and 
raising 135 tons per day. They have still one hun- 
dred acres of coal unworked; 



37 

The water power of the Cuyahoga River, upon its 
two branches, the main and Little Cuyahoga, is per- 
haps unsurpassed in extent, availability and durabili- 
ty, by any other power in the State. There is, within 
the original limits of the township, a power estimat- 
ed as sufficient to drive two hundred run of mill- 
stones, grinding each two hundred bushels per day. 
A power sufficient to grind nearly the entire annual 
wheat crop of the State of Ohio. The first improve- 
ment upon this power was a flouring mill erected in 
Middlebury, upon the Little Cuyahoga, in 1808. 

This power, though largely, is still but partially 
improved, and contains a mine of wealth yet to be 
developed. 

The gross products of the manufactures of the town- 
ship, at present, are estimated to exceed $450,000 
per annum. 

There are within the original township, two paper 
mills; three foundries and machine shops; one flour- 
ing mill ; one woolen factory ; one manufactory of 
woolen machinery; one flax dressing and rope facto- 
ry ; one linseed oil mill; two very extensive carriage 
making establishments ; several extensive manufac- 
tories of stone and liverpool ware ; three saw mills ; 
one pail and tub factory, besides other smaller manu- 
facturing establishments. 

Several of these establishments would well deserve 
a particular description, for their extent and com- 
pleteness, and the excellence of their products. Time 
however permits only the briefest reference to the 
manufacture of pottery carried on at Middlebury, 



38 

which has, almost without observation, grown to an 
immense business. Besides the large amount disposed 
of through other channels, there was, during the year 
1856, not less than three thousand tons of pottery and 
fire clay sent from these establishments by the Ohio 
Canal. And a large accession to this business has 
recently been made by the successful establishment 
of a manufactory of the so called Liverpool ware. 

The population of Tallmadge in 1850, was 2,441. 
Since that date the number has been stationary. A 
recent census exhibiting the fact that the additions 
to the population have only been equal to the emi- 
gration. The water power at the south-west and 
north-west corners of the township concentrated pop- 
ulation at these points, till their numbers were so 
great that Middlebury and Cuyahoga Falls were made 
separate election districts, and at length the north- 
west corner was set off to the new township of 
Cuyahoga Falls. 

Mr. Bacon did not realize the exact accomplish- 
ment of his plans. From the sales of land sufficient 
money could not be realized to meet the contracted 
payments, and the unsold lands necessarily reverted 
to the original proprietors. And perhaps his plan, in 
some of its details, at least, was but imperfectly adapt- 
ed to the character of the colonists introduced. In- 
deed it may be questioned whether the perfect reali- 
zation of the high ideal which he had conceived is 
possible. 

Mr. Bacon left the township and returned to New 
England in the spring of 1812. He died at Hartford, 



39 

Conn., in 1817. Had lie lived to the present time 
he would, in many respects, have realized a higher 
success than he could have originally hoped, for his 
enterprize.' 

The present large population of the township, so 
greatly distinguished for its religion, morality and in- 
telligence its churches and benevolent organizations; 

its beautiful dwellings and highly cultivated farms, 
and busy workshops ; and its great material prosper- 
ity, would have amply satisfied him that the super- 
structure, if not just what he hoped to erect, was yet 
worthy of the foundation which he laid: 



40 

The following hymn was then sung by the choir, 
to the tune of "Ocean :" 

1. God of our fathers, to thy throne 

Our grateful songs we raise, 
Thou art our God, and thou alone, — 
Accept our humble praise. 

2. Unnumbered benefits from thee 

Are showered upon our land ; 
Behold ! through all our coasts we see 
The bounties of thy hand. 

3. Here thou wert once the pilgrims' guide ; 

Thou gav'st them here a place, 
Where freedom spreads its blessings wide, 
O'er all their favored race. 

4. Here, Lord, thy gospel's holy light, 

Is shed on all our hills ; 
And like the rains and dews of night, 
Celestial grace distills. 

5. Still teach us, Lord, thy name to fear, 

And still our guardian be ; 
let our children's children here 
Forever worship thee. 



ADDRESS, 

BY LEONARD BACON, D. D. 

Citizens of Tallmadge: 

Permit me to say that I thank you for the privilege of 
participating in this commemoration. I accept the privilege 
not the less thankfully for knowing that the kind invitation 
which has brought me hither, was given because I happened to 
be the oldest living person, and the only male survivor, of the 
single family whose arrival on this spot, fifty years ago, marks 
the beginning of your local history. 

I well remember, among the dim and scattered reminiscences 
of early childhood, the pleasant day — in the month of July, 
if I mistake not — when that family made its removal from the 
center of Hudson, to the new log house that had been prepar- 
ed for it, in the township which had then no other designa- 
tion than "Number two, Tenth range." The father and 
mother — poor in this world's goods, but rich in faith and in the 
treasure of God's promises, rich in their well tried mutual af- 
fection, rich in their hopes of usefulness and of the comfort 
and competence to be ultimately achieved by their enterprise, 
rich in the parental joy with which they looked upon the three 
little ones, that were carried in their arms or nestled among 



42 

their scanty household goods in the slow-moving wagon — 
were familiar with whatever there is in hardships and peril, 
and in baffling disappointment, to try the courage of the noblest 
manhood or the immortal strength of a true woman's love. — 
The little ones were natives of the wilderness; the youngest a 
delicate nursling of six months ; the others born in a far re- 
moter and far wilder west than this was even then. These 
fivo were the family who, on that day, removed to their new 
home. I remember the setting out; the halt before the door 
of good old Deacon Thompson to say farewell; the fording of 
the Cuyahoga; the slow day's journey of somewhat less than 
thirteen miles, along a road that had been merely cut, not made, 
through the unbroken forest; the little cleared spot where the 
journey ended; the new log house so long our home, with what 
seemed to me a stately hill behind it, and with a limpid rivu- 
let winding near the door. And when, at night, the first fam- 
ily worship was offered in that lonely cabin — when the father 
and mother, having read from this 13iblc, commended to their 
covenant God themselves, and their children, and the work 
which they had that day begun — the prayer that went up from 
those two saintly souls, breathed the same spirit with the 
prayer that went up of old from the deck of the Mayflower, or 
from beneath the wintry sky of Plymouth. In the ear of 
God, it was as "the voice of one crying in the wilderness, 
prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight." 

There was another member of that family — then or imme- 
diately afterwards — whose name and function should not bo 
overlooked in our attempt to recall the beginning of your his- 
tory. The head of the family was a clergyman — not indeed 
a man of the largest literary and scientific culture, for his 
youth had not been blessed with a college training; but a 
man of eminent intellectual powers and of intensely thought- 
ful habits. There is a place for such men in the founding of 
new communities. The moral and social beauty around us 
here to-day, overspreading the material beauty of the cultiva- 



43 

ted landscape, testifies that blessed is the community which 
has such a man for its founder. But the work of cutting down 
the woods and subduing with fire and plough the matted soil, — 
the work of driving out the bear and wolf from their old 
haunts — the work of building the first rude habitations and 
supplying them with game and skins from the forest — cannot 
proceed without faculties of quite another sort. There must 
be the strong arm of the wood-chopper lifting up his axo 
against the thick trees, the keen eye and steady nerve of the 
hunter with his rifle, the sturdy tread of the ploughman dri- 
ving his oxen and turning up the mold to the strange sunshine. 
Therefore let me name here my father's hired man, the hon- 
est and faithful Justin E. Frink, the wood-chopper who built, 
under my father's direction, and with his aid, our fir" log 
cabin, and cleared the little open space around it; the hunter 
who fed us through the first winter with his venison; tho 
ploughman who sowed the first wheat-field and planted tho 
first hills of Indian com and the first patch of potatoes. If 
my dim recollections do not mislead me, he was a member of 
our family from the day of our arrival here ; and I infer that 
he was the pioneer who had prepared our dwelling for us. — 
While wc knew him, he was blameless in his station and was 
free from the infirmities that arc said to have overtaken him 
in his later years. To my thought, as I look back to your be- 
ginning, he stands the representative of the laborious physical 
activity which wrestles with the savage force of nature, and by 
which, as it struggles on, the wilderness is made, at length, to 
blossom as the rose. 

Fifty years ago, the emigration westward from tho Atlantic 
had not become the mighty flood which wc now sec spreading 
over the plains of Kansas and Minnesota,and rising through the 
gorges and canons of the Rocky Mountains. The Stato of 
Connecticut had but recently perfected her title to the soil of 
her Western Reserve, by ceding to the United States all right 
of sovereignty and jurisdiction over it. Fcr moro than ono 



44 

hundred and thirty years that had elapsed since the charter of 
King Charles II was granted, she had followed, till then,undevi- 
atingly, her own method of extending the institutions of her 
Puritan civilization over the wild lands within her chartered 
limits. One tract after another, sufficient for a municipal 
government, was granted to trusty men who were to form a 
settlement of well assorted families, with the church, the meet- 
ing-house, the settled ministry of the Gospel, the school, the 
local magistracy, and the democratic town-meeting represented 
in the General Assembly. Under this method, self-governed 
towns in what is now a part of Pennsylvania, were once repre- 
sented in the General Assembly at Hartford and New Haven., 
HacLponnecticut been permitted to retain the jurisdiction as 
well as the ownership of the soil, this Western Reserve would 
have been settled under the same method; and being organized 
and governed in conformity with her laws, would have become 
in reality what it was named at first, — "New Connecticut." — 
As such it would have grown into a separate State. But now 
the old method was no longer practicable. By that cession 
of sovereignty which was executed in 1801, New Connecticut 
passed under the territorial government established for what 
was then called the North- Western territory; and old Connec- 
ticut gave up the power of colonizing her own western territory 
under her own laws. She had previously granted a portion of 
the^soil in compensation for losses sustained in the revolution- 
ary war ; she had sold the remainder to a company of her cit- 
izens for a sum which has since grown into her munificent 
school fund, and the whole had been surveyed and divided un- 
der her authority into townships, some of which were beginning 
to be occupied by a few adventurous inhabitants. All that re- 
mained for her to do in relation to the soil, after the deed of 
cession, was to confirm and protect the titles of the grantees 
by the 'added authority of the United States. Just then it 
was" that the Connecticut method of "missions to the new set- 
tlements," was completed, and became a system. At first, in - 



45 

dividual pastors, encouraged by their brethren, and obtaining 
permission from their churches, performed long and weary- 
journeys on horseback into Vermont and the great wilder- 
ness of central New York, that they might preach the Word 
and administer the ordinances of religion to such members of 
their flocks, and others, as had emigrated beyond the reach of 
ordinary New England privileges. By degrees the work was 
enlarged, and the arrangements for sustaining it were syste- 
matized, till in the year 1798, the same year in which the 
settlement of the Reserve began, the pastors of Connecticut, 
in their General Association, instituted the Missionary Soci- 
ety of Connecticut. In 1802, one year after the jurisdiction 
of the old State over the Reserve was formally relinquished, 
the Trustees of the Missionary Society were incorporated. — 
As early as 1800, only two years after the first few families 
from Connecticut had planted themselves this side of North- 
western Pennsylvania, the first missionary made his appear- 
ance among them. This was the Rev. Joseph Badger, the 
apostle of the Western Reserve, — a man of large and various 
experience, as well as of native force and of venerable sim- 
plicity in character and manners. In those days, the work of 
the "Missionary to the new settlements" was by no means the 
same with what is now called "Home missionary" work. Our 
modern Home missionary has his station and his home; his 
business is to gather around himself a permanent congrega- 
tion; his hope is to grow up with the congregation which he 
gathers; and the aid which he receives is given to help the 
church support its pastor. But the old fashioned " mission- 
ary to the new settlements " was an itinerant. He had no 
station and no settled home. If he had a family, his work 
was continually calling him away from them. He went from 
one little settlement to another — from one lonely cabin to an- 
other — preaching from house to house, and not often spend- 
ing tAvo consecutive Sabbaths in one place. The nature of the 
emigration to the wilderness, in those days, required such la- 



46 

bors. We who are living in the age of steam, can hardly re- 
alize the difference between what emigration was in those days 
and what it now is. That sudden growth of villages and com- 
mercial cities which is now so much a matter of course when 
a new territory is opened, was then not thought of. The jour- 
nals which Mr. Badger sent home to the Trustees of the Mis- 
sionary Society, show how scattered the settlements were, 
and how slow their growth was, in comparison with what is 
now seen continually in regions farther west. Thus, for ex- 
ample, he records that in June 1801, two years after the ar- . 
rival of the first settlers at Hudson, there were only ten fam- 
ilies in that township. 

It was felt that two missionaries were needed for the work 
among the scattered settlements. Accordingly the Rev. Ez- 
ekiel J. Chapman was sent. He arrived on the Reserve at tho 
close of the year 1801, and returned to Connecticut in April 
1803. His place was soon supplied by a young man ordained 
expressly to the work, the Rev. Thomas Robbins, who con- 
tinued laboring in this field from November 1803 till April 
1806. In a letter of his, dated June 8th 1805, I find tho 
following statement: "Since the beginning of the present 
year, I have been taking pains to make an actual enumera- 
tion of the families in this county.* The work I have just com- 
pleted. There arc one or more families in sixt} r -four towns. f 
January 1st, 1804, the number of families was about 800. — 
The first of last January, there were a little more than 1100, 
— of which 450 arc Yankees. There were twenty-four schools. 
There arc seven churches, with a prospect that two more will 
be organized soon, and more than twenty places where the 
worship of God is regularly maintained on the Sabbath." 

In the Autumn of 1804 — the year which saw the unprece- 
dented immigration of more than three hundred families — a 
third missionary arrived at these new settlements ; the Rev. 

*Trumbul] county then included the whole Western Reserve. 
fThe territory of the Reserve contains more than 200 townships. 



47 

David Bacon, who afterwards became the principal agent in 
the settlement of this town, and who was the author of those 
plans and arrangements which have given to this town its pe- 
culiar character. He had already been for four years a mis- 
sionary to the Indians in regions far beyond; and his desig- 
nation by the Trustees -to New Connecticut, wilderness as it 
then was, brought him back to privileges and comforts which 
he had once left far behind him. By natural constitution, ho 
was one of those men who arc called visionary and enthusi- 
asts by men of a more prosaic and plodding temperament. In 
early life — I know not at what age — he had been the subject 
of a deep and thorough religious experience; and through his 
spiritual conflicts and deliverances he had been brought into a 
special sympathy with the self-sacrificing spirit of Braixerd, 
that saintly New England missionary who wore his young life 
out among the Indians of New Jersey and Pennsylvania long 
ago, and whose biography, written by Jonathan Edwards, 
has wakened in later ages, and in other lands, such minds as 
Henry Martyn, to a holy emulation. Thus, at a period when 
missions to the heathen were little thought of, he cherished 
in his solitary bosom the fire that is now glowing, less intense- 
ly indeed, but with a vital warmth, in millions of Christian 
hearts. He longed for that self-denying service; but there 
were none to send him forth. Disappointments in his worldly 
business inflamed, instead of discouraging, his desire of a ser- 
vice so self-denying, and to worldly minds so uninviting. — 
With limited opportunities and means, he devoted himself to 
study in preparation for that work. At last the Trustees of 
the Connecticut Missionary Society, two years after the in- 
stitution of that Board, were persuaded to attempt, on a very 
small scale, a mission to the Indians; and he was commission- 
ed, for six months, to perform a journey of exploration and 
experiment among the Indian tribes in that unknown wilder- 
ness beyond Lake Erie. On the eighth of August, 1800, he 
set forth from Hartford; and the scale of liberality on which 



48 

that mission was to be supported may be estimated from the 
fact that the missionary "went his way, not only alone, but on 
foot, and with his luggage on his back, to rejoice in whatever 
opportunities he might find of being helped along by any 
charitable traveler with a spare seat in his wagon. Having 
acquired such information as seemed sufficient to determine 
the location of the mission, he immediately returned, and on 
the first of January 1801, having been in the mean time sol- 
emnly consecrated to his work by ordination, he set his face to- 
wards the wilderness again, with his young wife, and her youn- 
ger brother, a boy of fourteen years,* to encounter the hard- 
ships,not of the long journey only,but of that new home to which 
their journey Avould conduct theim Of their perils and priva- 
tions there — of their disappointments and discouragements — 
I might speak, if the time and the occasion would permit. I 
will only say that as soon as the inevitable expenses of a mis- 
sion so far remote from all civilized communities, and involv- 
ing the necessity of an outlay for schools and for industrial oper- 
ations, began to confound the limited expectations with which 
the work had been attempted, the Trustees, frightened by un- 
expected drafts on their treasury, abandoned the enterprise; 
and the missionary was ordered to New Connecticut. In the 
month of August, he left the isle of Mackinaw, with his wife 
and their two children, the youngest less than six weeks old; 
and after a weary and dangerous voyage, some part of which 
was performed in an open canoe, they arrived safe on the soil 
of the Western Reserve. About the first of October they were 
at Hudson, where they found a temporary home. That place 
had been occasionally visited by Mr. Badger and Mr. Robbins 
in their missionary circuits; but now the number of families in 
the township, and their means of subsistence, had become so 
considerable, that they proposed to employ Mr. Bacon as their 
own minister half the time, provided the Trustees of the Mis- 
sionary Society would retain him in their service the remain- 

*Beaumont Parks, Esq., now of Springfield, Illinois. 



49 

der of the time. If I mistake not, this was the first arrange- 
ment of the kind on the Reserve;— the first time that the Gos- 
pel was administered in any township otherwise than by the 
occasional visits of itinerant missionaries. 

Just at the commencement of my father's connection with 
the history of the Western Reserve, there came a trial of his 
quality and temper, which I may be allowed to narrate, that 
you who have a local interest in his name and memory, may 
know what sort of a man he was. The order for his removal 
from the Indian mission to these new settlements was voted 
in January, but the letters in which that order was sent nev- 
er reached him — such was the difficulty and uncertainty of 
communication with so remote a point as the extremity of 
Lake Huron. At last, in the month of July, he received the 
information in the form of a verbal message from one of the 
Trustees; and immediately he made haste to obey the order. 
Not long after his arrival at Hudson, he received letters in- 
forming him that his orders on the Society's Treasurer were 
protested; that a new and full statement of his expenses was 
demanded; that he was at liberty to return home; and that if 
he should choose to return, a gentleman at Warren was au- 
thorized to advance to him, on his application, such a sum as 
might be sufficient to defray the expenses of his journey. I 
need not describe the depressing effect of a communication so 
expressive of dissatisfaction and distrust. Here he was, pen- 
niless, with a helpless little family, with an implied doubt of 
his integrity, with protested drafts for which he might be cast 
into prison, with angry creditors upon his track. A filial 
heart bleeds, even now, to think of the complicated agony. — 
The way in which helmet that crisis, shows what the man was. 
Immediately he left his little family to the pitying hospital- 
ity of the friends whom he and they had already found in 
this wilderness. Refusing to accept the means of performing 
the journey on horseback, he set out for Hartford, on foot 
and alone, in the month of November. By the long and 
4 



50 

dreary forest paths — through the chill November rains pour- 
ing pitilessly on his unsheltered head — through storms of 
snow — through the deep mud— now leaping over the sloughs 
and rivulets, and now limping with lameness caused by such 
exertion — often hungry and faint, as well as sad and weary 
— passing sometimes whole days without, a morsel of animal 
f 00( } — the lonely traveler pursued his way along the route 
where thousands are now daily flying, as it were, on wings of 
fire. One letter written on that journey, from Presque Isle, 
(now Erie,) remains in the possession of his children, describ- 
ing the hardships of the way, but breathing in every line a 
cheerful trust in God and an undaunted hope. Another let- 
ter written from Hartford on the 29th of December, announ- 
ces his safe arrival there. The records of the Missionary So- 
ciety show that, on the 9th of January, 1805, he presented 
himself at a meeting of the Trustees, and gave them "a gen- 
eral statement of his mission." Evidently, there w r as a long 
session which was adjourned to the next day. The votes re- 
corded on that next day show that his statements and expla- 
nations were satisfactory. His orders or drafts, the pay- 
ment of which had been suspended, were "sanctioned as hav- 
ing been proper;" a much larger amount than he had drawn 
for was granted in payment of the debts which he had con- 
tracted in the service of the Society; and he was honorably 
reappointed for the ensuing year, with the understanding that 
he was to serve the people of Hudson half the time. One 
week later he began his journey homeward; and on the 5th of 
March, he met his joyful family again at Hudson. 

Less than a year's experience, as a missionary to the new 
settlements, convinced him that more could be done for the 
establishment of Christian institutions, and for the moral and 
religious welfare of the Reserve as a whole, by one conspicuous 
example of a well organized and well christianized township, 
with all the best arrangements and appliances of New Eng- 
land civilization, than by many years of desultory effort in the 



51 

Tray of missionary labor. The idea was not wholly new.— 
Four years earlier, Mr. Badger's journal contains a record of 
his attending a consultation at Rootstown "on the subject of 
forming a settlement in some place so compact as to have 
schools and meetings." There must have been in many minds 
a longing, more or less distinct, after the old Puritan way of 
colonizing. Doubtless, the matter had often been talked of 
between Mr. Badger and his fellow missionaries. One of the 
three missionaries, more than the others, was a man likely 
to seize upon such an idea, to brood upon it in his thoughts, 
to shape it into a definite scheme, to picture to himself in 
strong colors the great good that might be done by making 
that Utopia a reality. While he resided at Hudson, he had 
the opportunity of observing what effect had been produced 
upon the character of that town by a few of its earliest set- 
tlers from Litchfield county, and especially by the strong-min- 
ded and great-hearted old Puritan whose name it perpetuates. 
He would naturally form in his thoughts the idea of what 
Hudson might have been in 1805, if in 1800 .the ground had 
been occupied by a religious colony, strong enough and com- 
pact enough to maintain schools and public worship, with a 
stated ministry of the Word, just as Hartford, Wethersfield and 
Windsor did in 1636. Being near the western limit of the 
progress of settlement in this direction, he looked about him 
for a vacant township, in which such an experiment might be 
tried. His prophetic mind saw the exquisite capabilities of this 
township, its fertile soil, its salubrious air, its beautifully undu- 
lating surface, its pure and abundant water, its streams sing- 
ing in the grand old woods and rich with power for the ser- 
vice of man. He saw that the proprietorship of it was chief- 
ly in the hands of men, who, as his trusting and hopeful na- 
ture led him to believe, would enter into his views, and would 
even be willing to sacrifice something of their possible gains 
(if need should be) for so great a scheme of public usefulness 
as that with which his mind was laboring. Having determin- 



53 

ed to make the attempt, he relinquished his prior engage- 
ments, and went to Connecticut with his family, near the 
close of the year. He succeeded in making a contract with 
the proprietors, and in forming such arrangements for the 
purchase and sale of the land as seemed to him safe and suf- 
ficient. He went through various parts of Connecticut to make 
his plan known, and to procure the migration of the right 
sort of settlers. In the summer or early autumn of 1800, 
he returned to the Reserve, and again established his tempo- 
rary home in Hudson, till he should remove to the chosen spot 
where he expected to live and to die. 

The next thing in the progress of his undertaking was a 
new survey of the township, in order to lay out the ground- 
plan of the settlement. Thjs was done in the month of No- 
vember, or rather it was then begun. With what foresight it 
was done, you who dwell here are witnesses, to day. The lay- 
ing out of a town before its settlement is a matter of no slight 
importance to the successive generations of those who are af- 
terwards to be its inhabitants. A township measured off in- 
to quarter-sections, divided among a few land-holders, broken 
into scattered settlements, and with no roads but such as lead 
to some convenient market, can hardly grow into a town. Its 
population of isolated families, with no acknowledged center, 
cannot be made into a community with a vital organization 
and with common interests and sympathies. The unity of a 
town, as a body politic, depends on its having a center to 
which every neighborhood and every homestead shall be ob- 
viously related. In no rural township that I have ever seen, 
is that necessity so well provided for as here. No observing 
traveler can pass through this town, as it lies before us in its 
beauty to day, and not see that it was originally planned by 
a sagacious and foreseeing mind. Beautiful villages and great 
cities have often been delineated on paper before the first hab- 
itation was erected, and sometimes the aspirations of the pro- 
jector have been realized; but I know not where; else than 



m 

here, the same sort of forethought has been expended in plan- 
ning and marking out beforehand the highways that were to 
bind together, in ties of mutual intercourse and dependence, 
the farms and neighborhoods of an agricultural township. How 
much of the public spirit, the local pride, the friendly inter- 
course, the general culture and good taste, and the moral and 
religious steadfastness, that now characterize the town of Tall- 
madge, may be referred to the forethought which planned 
these roads, meeting and intersecting at the center, — you can 
best judge, who enjoy the great convenience, and who feel 
continually the gentle pressure of the bond of neighborhood 
binding every family to every other. All that we see here to- 
day — the meeting house at the geographical center, with the 
parsonage, the physicians' houses, the academy, the country 
inn, and the mechanics' shops and dwellings clustering around 
the neighborhood school houses at the corners made by the in- 
tersection of the parallel roads with the diagonals — all this 
was in the mind of the projector when he drew the plan, and 
all was often on his lips, as I remember well. 

It was fit that he who had planned the settlement, and who 
had identified with it all his hopes of usefulness for the re- 
mainder of his life and all his hopes of a competence for his 
family, should be the first settler in the township. He did'not 
wait for hardier adventurers to encounter the first hardships, 
and to break the deep loneliness of the woods. Selecting a 
temporary location, near an old Indian trail, a few rods from 
the southern boundary of the township, he built the first lone 
cabin, and there he placed his family. Our nearest neigh- 
bors (who they were, I cannot remember) lived (I know not 
how far off, but I think it was within a mile or two) in the ad- 
jacent town of Springfield. One month afterwards, a^German 
family, named Boosinger, removed within the limits of our 
town; but it was not till the next February, that another fam- 
ily of New England origin, to whom our English language 
was their mother tongue, removed into the township. Well do 



54 

I remember the solitude of that first winter, and how beau- 
tiful the change was when, at last, the spring began to spread 
her verdure over the soil, and to hang her garlands on the 
trees. 

The next thing to be done in the'prosecution of the plan 
to which my father had devoted himself, was to bring in from 
whatever quarter, Such families as would enter into his views, 
and would co-operate with him in securing the early establish- 
ment of Christian order. It was at the expense of many along 
and weary journey to the older settlements that he succeeded 
in bringing together here from Ravenna, from Canfield, from 
Austinburgh, from Cleveland, and from elsewhere, the fam- 
ilies who, in the Spring and Summer of 1808, began to call 
this town their home. His repeated and protracted absences 
from home are fresh in my memory ; and so is the joy with 
which we greeted the arrival of one family after another com- 
ing to relieve our loneliness. Nor least among the memories 
of that time, is the remembrance of my mother's fear, when 
sometimes she was left alone with her three little children. — 
She had not ceased to fear the Indians; and sometimes a strag- 
gling savage, or a little company of them, came by our door 
on the old Portage path, calling perhaps to try our hospital- 
ity, and with signs or broken English phrases asking for whis- 
key. She could not feel that to "pull in the latch-string" 
was a sufficient exclusion of such visitors; and in my mind's 
eye I seem now to see her frail form tugging at a heavy chest 
with which to barricade the door before she dared to sleep. It was 
indeed a great relief and joy to feel at last that we had neigh- 
bors, and that our town was really beginning to have inhab- 
itants. At that time the Rev. Jonathan Leslie, a Pennsyl- 
vania^ by birth and education,was one of the missionaries of the 
Connecticut Society. In one of his letters to the Trustees, 
under the date of Oct. 14th, 1808, he says: "This summer, 
the Rev. Mr. Bacon has had considerable success in set- 
tling the town of Tallmadge." It was "considerable success." 



55 

At the end of the second year from the commencement of 
the survey, there were perhaps twelve families, and the town 
had received a name. 

That name was agreed upon among the early settlers. — 
Though it was my father's choice, I think he did not 
at first impose it on the township. I remember when the 
question was discussed and determined at our house, and we 
began to know that we were living in the town of Tallmadge. 
Col. Benjamin Tallmadge of Litchfield, Connecticut, was not 
only the largest original proprietor of this township, but one 
of the most honored citizens of old Connecticut. Having serv- 
ed his country with distinction in the army of the Revolution, 
he was at that time a member of Congress. It is hardly nec- 
cessary to say that he was a man of strong mind and of the 
most undoubted integrity; for that was "the good old time" 
when such men only were trusted to represent that State in 
the great council of the nation. He was a man of wealth, 
for he was one of those men who, though not born rich are 
born to become rich and to die rich. At the same time, he 
was a man of strict and stern religious principles — a puritan 
in faith and practice. When he was far advanced in life, I 
became somewhat acquainted with him. He was then a man 
of commanding and venerable presence, greatly honored in 
the church and among his fellow-citizens, and a liberal con- 
tributor to various undertakings of christian zeal, some of 
which he remembered with large munificence in his will. — 
Some of his children and descendants are now conspicuous and 
honored in society; but in your beautiful town, his name and 
memory will be perpetuated, when Litchfield and Connecticut 
will remember him no more. 

I am giving you, in this desultory way, not the history of 
your town, but only my own reminiscences of its beginning. 
During that first lonely winter, we met for united worship 
on the Lord's day, at a house in Springfield, with a few in- 
habitants of that township and of Suffield, my father offioiat- 



ing as a volunteer missionary in the little congregation. But 
as soon as a few families had removed into this township, pub- 
lic worship was commenced here, and, if I mistake not, the 
earliest meetings were at my father's house.* From that 
time onward, the public worship of God was maintained here, 
without interruption. The first settler of the town being him- 
self a recognized minister of the Gospel, though no longer 
employed as a missionary, he served the people as their min- 
ister. I remember no preaching here by any other minister 
till Mr. Leslie made a visit here, in the month of Jan- 
uary, 1809. At that time a church was formally gathered and 
instituted according to the principles and usages of the New 
England churches. A comparison of the church record with 
the missionary's brief report to his employers, enables me to 
identify these facts. On Friday, the 20th of January, Mr. 
Leslie preached one sermon in Tallmadge. On Saturday he 
preached again. At that meeting the preliminary arrange- 
ments for constituting a church were completed. On the 
Lord's day, the 22d of January, the missionary preached 
again, one sermon ; and the church was constituted with the 
usual solemnities, nine persons covenanting to walk together 
in the ordinances of Christ. Then, for the first time in the 
place, the death, the great self-sacrifice of the- world's Re- 
deemer, was solemnly commemorated — thenceforth to be com- 
memorated, in like manner, by Christ's disciples here, till time 
shall end. On the same day, two children of the church 
were consecrated to a covenant God, in baptism. The mis- 
sionary in giving his repo-t, says, concerning the number of 
members in the church, that " three were prevented from at- 
tending by high waters." He adds, " This society promises 
soon to be the best on the Reserve." 

It is worthy of notice that those two persons whose names 



* The venerable Mr. Kilbourn, since the delivery of this address, 
has assured me that for several years my father's house was the only 
place of meeting for worship. This coincides with my recollections. 



§7 

stand first in the record of the baptisms in this church, are 
here, on this occasion, for the first time in five and forty years. 
And, it is still more worthy of notice that the husband and 
wife, whose names stand first in the catalogue of those who 
covenanted with each other, in the formation of this church, 
are also here to-day, lingering upon the shores of time, to 
honor this commemoration with their venerable presence, be- 
fore they pass away. Tell us, ye aged ones ! the faith in 
God and God's redeeming Son, which ye then professed and 
covenanted to maintain, is it not now the staff on which ye 
lean, as your trembling steps go downward to the grave ? Has 
it not been your joy in sorrow, and your strength in conflict ? 
Tell us, that hope which then ye cherished, for what would ye 
renounce it now, when life's last sands are falling ? 

You will allow me to say that I have narrated the particu- 
lars concerning the formation of the church, with this minute- 
ness, partly because some of them happen to be fresh in my 
remembrance. The " Church of Christ, in Tallmadge," was 
instituted under the roof of the first log cabin that was built 
within the limits of the township. My childish understand- 
ing could take in only a little of the meaning of what I saw 
and heard that day, but the transactions in our house on that 
Sabbath day — transactions so simple in their form, so naked 
in respect to outward show, yet so sublime in their import 
and relations,— are indelibly impressed upon my memory. 

Slowly the settlement of the town proceeded, from 1807 to 
1810 — too slowly for the hopes, far too slowly for the person- 
al interest, and pecuniary responsibilities of the projector. 
During that period, emigration from Connecticut to the Re- 
serve was almost at a stand. The crimes of the first Bonaparte 
who was then ravaging Europe, had their effect even in this 
deep wilderness, bringing disappointment and unexpected 
poverty into the homes of the pioneer settlers. The embar- 
go and other non-intercourse measures, with which the admin- 
istration of President Jefferson, whether wisely or wickedly, 



58 

annihilated, for a time, the foreign commerce that was so rar> 
idly enriching our country, produced a universal stagnation of 
business. Property could no longer be converted into money. 
Those persons in Connecticut, who might have emigrated' 
hither, could not sell their farms, and were compelled to wait 
for better times. All the money that came into the Reserve 
in those early days, was brought on the current of emigration ; 
and all that came was continually returning, in payment for 
lands, as well as for those articles of necessity which the 
wilderness could not yield. There was no buying and selling 
but by barter. Inevitably, under the pressure of such times, 
the founder of this town became embarrassed in his relations 
to the original proprietors, in Connecticut. The strict fulfil- 
ment of his contract with them became impossible, for a two- 
fold reason ; first, because the land which he had contracted 
to purchase could not be sold, and, secondly, because there 
was no money with which to make payment for what little had 
been sold. I need not proceed any further in the explanation. 
You can see what anxieties, what fears, what depressing 
thoughts, were crowding upon the man who had already done 
so much, and borne so heavy a burthen, in the work which you 
this day commemorate. Once, and I believe twice, he obtain- 
ed from the proprietors an extension of the time for the ful- 
filment of his contract. In 1810, his prospects began to 
revive. That year was marked by the first arrival of settlers 
from Connecticut. In April, 1811, he left his family here 
and went to Connecticut, with a sanguine hope, (for sanguine 
hope was characteristic of his nature,) that he might not only 
effect some satisfactory arrangement with the proprietors, but 
might, also, sell the remainder of the township to persons 
who would immediately remove hither and establish, at once, 
the completed order of a New England town. And, in this 
place — that I may represent aright the pressure of the cares 
and sorrows that were crowding upon him, and upon the lov- 
ing and delicate one who had already been his partner in eo 



59 

many labors an<l so many griefs — I must say that there were 
inhabitants here — old friends of his — who were in danger of 
losing both the land they had purchased of him and whatever 
they had paid him for it, because of his inability to fulfil his 
contract with the proprietors, and so to obtain a valid title. 
It is not to be wondered at, that some of them felt themselves 
wronged and were ready to blame him. They did blame him, 
and there was painful alienation between him and them. That 
was the bitterest ingredient in the cup which he and the gen. 
tie partner of his sorrows, were, in those days, constrained to 
drink. Such was the complicated trouble against which he 
struggled, hoping on and hoping ever. He had friends here — 
kind friends — true and faithful friends, who clung to him like 
"brothers, and whose affectionate confidence in him could not 
be shaken ; and to their sympathy and kindness he left his 
wife and his five little children, while he went to Connecticut 
on that last attempt to retrieve the fortune of the enterprise 
in which he had embarked all his hopes this side of heaven. 
This was in the spring of 1811. 

The attempt was unsuccessful. His absence was prolonged 
for nearly a twelvemonth. Till near the last his letters were 
full of hope. In the month of November he thought himself 
at the very point of concluding an arrangement with the pro- 
prietors, which would accomplish all he hoped for. But sud- 
denly he was baffled, and, in his own true phrase his "heart 
was broken." With difficulty he obtained the means of re- 
turning, and of removing his family from the scene of so great 
a disappointment. All that he had realized from those five 
years of arduous labor in his great scheme, was poverty, the 
alienation of old friends, the depression that follows a fatal 
defeat, and the dishonor that waits on One who Cannot pay 
his debts. Broken in health, broken in heart, yet sustained 
by an immoveable confidence in God, and by the hopes that 
reach into eternity, he turned away from the field of hopes 
that had so sadly perished, and bade his last farewell to these 



GO 

hills and streams, to these old -woods, and to the friends whose 
kindness in helping the preparation for our journey, I remem- 
ber with grateful sensibility. A little more than five years 
afterwards, in the month of August, 1817 — a few days more 
than ten years from his removal with his family into the 
township to begin the settlement here — he died of a premature 
decay. The powers of life had been exhausted, and he rested 
from his labors. 

Yet his labor was not lost. He labored and other men en- 
tered into his labors. As it was his heart's desire and prayer, 
so it was his destiny, to labor for others more than for himself. 
With the strongest and tenderest domestic affections, and with 
a most unsparing assiduity for the welfare of his children, he 
lived and acted nevertheless on a far wider scale of thought and 
of aspiration than simply to provide for his own. In that long 
absence from his family, when he was making his last great 
effort, one of his letters to his wife contained this sentence, 
" It has afforded great relief to my mind to reflect that it is 
to make provision for you and the dear children that I am so 
long absent from you, as well as to be able to do justice to my 
creditors and promote the spiritual and everlasting good of 
the thousands who are to inhabit the town of Tallmadge." 
After he had abandoned the hope of making some provision 
for her and for their children out of the wreck of his under- 
taking, he labored on to do justice to his creditors, and to pro- 
mote the spiritual and everlasting good of the thousands who 
are now dwelling here. His first and most arduous effort, 
after his removal from this place, was to obtain that justice 
for his creditors. Some of the best of the emigrants from 
Connecticut, who afterwards made this place their home, came 
hither in consequence of his persuasion. 

The work which he performed here, disastrous as it was to 
him, in respect to pecuniary returns, was not lost. Instead 
of being lost it was the great achievment of his life. The 
seed which he scattered so unsparingly, did not "lie buried 



61 

long in dust." Soon it began to spring, and now it " shakes 
like Lebanon." It blooms to-day in all that makes this town 
a model of rural beauty. It is bearing fruit in all this wealth, 
in all this neighborly harmony and public spirit, in all this 
intelligence and true refinement, in these schools, in these 
churches. Its fragrance is in the sweet incense of morning 
and evening worship, rising to heaven from these christian 
households. 

Not long before his death he received a letter subscribed by 
those old friends of his, in this place, who had been alienated 
from him, and who had judged him harshly. I mention it, 
not to honor him, but to honor them — or rather to honor the 
grace of God in them. Frankly, and in an ingenuous and 
Christian spirit, they acknowledged, of their own accord, that 
they had wronged him in their judgment and in their feelings. 
It was a solace to him, as he began to feel that the springs of 
life were failing, that those from whom he had parted so pain- 
fully, had remembered their old affection toward him, and at 
last, had judged him kindly and truly. 

There was another letter from this place, as I remember. 
All the essential features of the plan projected by the foun- 
der of this town were realized. They are before our eyes to- 
day. But in that plan, as it lay in his mind, there was one 
additional element which has been lost and can never be re- 
covered. His scheme included a hope that the Yale College 
of New Connecticut might become the crowning institution of 
this town. The beautiful swell where your dead are buried, 
was the spot which, in his thoughts, he had destined to that 
use. Only a few months before his death, he received a let- 
ter written by the pastor of the church in this place, and ex- 
pressing the wishes of some of the leading citizens. The time 
had come when something must be done for the establishment 
of a College on the Reserve ; and he was invited to attempt 
that arduous labor * It was thought that his projecting and 
enthusiastic genius, and his strenuous perseverance might be 



62 

nsain enlisted in the service of the Western Reserve and of 
the town of Tallmadge. But the application came to a man 
whose force had been expended prematurely, whose heart had 
been broken by disappointments, and whose frame, worn out 
by hardship and privation, was already wasting away. 

Citizens of Tallmadge ! People of the Western Reserve ! 
I thank you for the kindness with which you have listened to 
me. I thank you, still more, for your grateful commemora- 
tion of the saintly and heroic man, whose blood is in the 
pulses of this heart. His name and memory are in your 
keeping as well as in mine. Your interest in his name, and 
your heirship in his labors — far more th^n the fact that the 
bright memories of my childhood find their local habitation 
here — must ever give me a personal concern in the character and 
prosperity of this town and of the glorious Western Reserve. 
With great propriety, a place has been assigned, in the or. 
der of these proceedings, for short biographical notices of the 
early settlers. I shall not be regarded as trespassing on that 
arrangement, if I say that within the last few years (since my 
first visit here, in 1848) two of the early settlers have passed 
awav, to whom the inhabitants of this town will be forever in- 
debted. One was among the very earliest — the pioneer phy- 
sician, skillful and kind — the man, faithful and just in every 
relation — the friend whose affection never wavered- — the disci- 
ple who never was wanting in his love and duty to the church. 
Let the name of Dr. Amos Wright be ever honored here.. 
Another was the first who emigrated directly from Connecti- 
cut to this place, — a man of liberal education and various 
learning, a man who had been long honored in his native town 
and State, a man worthy of any station, who when his life 
had passed its noon, sold all his property in old Connecticut, 
and came hither with his numerous family, to enter heartily 
into the plan of this settlement and to encounter the hard- 
ships and privations of this wilderness. Modest almost to a 
fault, disinterested, peaceful, affectionate, he seemed the very 



65 

disciple whom Jesus loved. The inhabitants of Tallmadge, 
through all their generations, -will be under special obligations 
to remember the venerable name of Elizur Wright. There 
was another early settler* whom I saw here a few years ago, 
but who is here no more. I seem to hear his strong and man- 
ly, but melodious, voice, still mingling in the choir he led so 
long. How sweetly does he sing to-day in heaven. 

SiU.eh commemorations as that to which this day is given, 
are not a mere luxury. They teach us, most impressively, a 
great moral and religious lesson. It is not merely the lesson 
that " one generation passeth away and another generation 
cometh, but the earth abideth forever ;" or that, in a few years 
more we ourselves will have been gathered to that great and 
ever increasing assembly in the land of silence, while other 
hands than ours will be toiling in our work, and other 
eyes than ours will be looking on the beauty of this green 
earth and this encircling sky. It is rather that, in the ordin- 
ance of God, the generations of mankind are linked one to 
another, by ties of duty and service on the one hand, and 
of grateful memory on the other. You who are here to- 
day, in joyful thousands, are only at one remove from the 
few pioneers who invaded the thick forest and battled with 
the wilderness. They labored in the hope that such a day 
as this would shine upon their graves. Your prosperity is 
the result of their conflict with rude nature. The materi- 
al wealth which is yours to-day, and which you must soon 
surrender to other hands, began to be accumulated by their 
hard-handed toil and their privations. You sow and reap 
the farms they cleared. You inhabit the houses they built. 
They founded the institutions of education and religion 
which you enjoy. Their prayers called down from heaven 
the influences of God's grace and love, which encompass 
you. In all that you do, you only build on their founda- 
tions. This is the inheritance which they, with a great 
*Alpha Wright. 



64 

price, provided for you. What can you do for them in re- 
turn*? Nothing. How little is it to honor their memory — 
to keep the cemetery green, to place the monumental mar-' 
ble on their graves ! All this may testify your remem- 
brance of them ; but all this pays, of itself, no portion of 
the debt. What they have done for you, you cannot do 
for them. The debt imposed on you by the foregoing ages 
is a debt which you can pay, only by like service for the 
generations that will follow you^ ^ 



65 

After the address by Rev. Mr. Bacon, and music by the 
Tallmadge Cornet Band, the assembly adjourned to partake 
of a bountiful repast prepared by the citizens of the Town- 
ship. 

Ossian E. Dodge, was introduced, and improvised, to the 

delight of the congregation, as follows : 

We assembled together, good people, 'to-Hay, 
To hear what the honorable speakers would say ; 
And they found that the people are worthy renown, 
And conquered the name of the good Banner Town. 
When we got on the ground, I acknowledge with pain, 
A lady exclaimed, " 0, we're sure to have rain ! " 
But the crowd was so spirited, happy and gay, 
That the clouds became frightened and scattered away. 

The clouds clearing off, and the day proving fair, 
The meeting commenced with devotional prayer ; 
And now with sweet music my soul did inspire, 
We received from a large and a capital choir. 

And now with a good and an honorable will, 
We got a good speech from our friend Mr. Sill ; 
And he said at the weather we never mustwonder, 
For the almanac told us we're to have thunder ! 

The items of history all seemed kTshow, 
That the town got its name half a century ago, 
And they prove to a T, if I am not mistaken, 
That Tallmadge got wealthy by saving her Bacon. 

From the records then written it fully appears, 
In this grove long ago there were plenty of deers ; 
Why this fact was thus mentioned I cannot tell how, 
For as sure as I live it is full of 'em now. 

The day's worthy orator now took the stand, 
And spoke of the trials of that pioneer band ; 
He said that they worked subduing the sod, 
Were true to each other and just to their God. 

The trials endured by our forefathers then, 
Is proof that they all were the noblest of men ; 
For in going to meeting, — the man who was kind, , 
When mounting his horse helped his wife on behind. 



66 

A good setting out in those days it is said, 
Was a mud and stone oven for baking their bread ; 
And the cake for their wedding, as truth does reveal, 
Was maple molasses and good Indian meal. 

For fear I'm detaining the people too long, 
Without further time I'll finish my song ; 
But though I'm fatigued, I am not getting thinner. 
For I've eaten mo,st heartily of a good dinner! 

All children are fond of good pictures they say ; 
If so we are all of us children to-day — 
For all of us men with our affectionate mates, 
Have been discussing a work illustrated with plates. 

There being some indications of rain the exercises were 
closed by singing the Doxology in long meter. 

The evening's exercises opened by singing the following 
hymn to the tune of " Old Hundred :" 

1. Great God ! beneath whose piercing eye 
The earth's extended kingdoms' lie ; 
Whose favoring smile upholds them all, 
Whose anger smites them and they fall ; — 

2. Thy kindness to our fathers shown, 
Their children's children long shall own ; 
To thee, with grateful hearts, shall raise 
The tribute of exulting praise. 

3. Upheld by thine unfailing aid, 
Secure the paths of life we tread ; 
And, freely as the vital air, 

Thy first and noblest bounties share. 

4. Great God, our guardian guide and friend ! 
still thy sheltering arm extend ; 
Preserved by thee for ages past, 

For ages let thy kindness last ! 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF EARLY 
SETTLERS. 

BY AMOS SEWARD, Esq. 

Rev/ David Bacon, born at Woodstock, Ct., in 1771. In 
early life worked at the wheelwright business ; engaged at 
times in teaching. Subsequently studied theology with Rev, 
Levi Hart, D. D. Shortly after his ordination he commenc- 
ed laboring as a Missionary with the Indians at Detroit and 
vicinity. His privations in that field were great. In travel^ 
ing from place to place there were neither roads nor bridges. 
Shortly after the settlement of Hudson he left his Indian field 
of labor and took up his residence in that place. The style 
in which he brought his family through the forests from De^ 
troit to Hudson would, at the present time, excite merriment. 
I will not attempt to describe it. Mr. Bacon conceived the 
idea' of planting a colony in the vicinity of Hudson that should 
be a model society, in which infidelity and irreligion should 
have no footing. He selected Range 10, Town 2, in Connect- 
icut Western Reserve ; erected his house in 1807, and moved 
in late in July of that year. As soon as there were any in. 
habitants for hearers he commenced preaching. Organized a 
church at his own house, with the aid of Rev. Jonathan Les- 
lie, Jan. 22d, 1809, and continued to labor for its prosperity 
until 1812. In that year he returned to Connecticut, and 
died there in 1817, aged forty-six years. 

The church in Tallmadge, the orderly character, marked 



68 

intelligence and prosperity of the people have ever been stand- 
ing monuments of the advantage resulting from Mr. Bacon's 
beginning. He was ever considered a sound orthodox divine. 
If departed spirits are permitted to witness the scenes of earth 
we may believe that the spirit of that departed saint views 
with satisfaction the commemoration of this day. 



Justin E. Frink was a native of Vermont. In the fami- 
ly of Rev. Mr. Bacon he came into the town ; remained with 
him (Mr. Bacon) during the winter and spring. Was active 
in assisting the new emigrants as they settled in the town. 
Mr. Frink probably rendered more assistance to the new set- 
tlers for the first ten years than any other individual. Was 
ever ready to assist with a helping hand. He was, at the or- 
ganization of the church, one of the nine that united by pro- 
fession. Mr. Frink was often to be found on the mount and 
soon after in the vale. Shortly after the death of his wife a 
cloud settled on his mind, that curtailed his usefulness and 
rendered him apparently unhappy. He died in Portage Co.» 
in 1847, aged sixty-three years. 



Conrad Boosinger, born on the Susquehannah, Penn., serv- 
ed as a teamster in the war of the Revolution ; was at the 
battle of Brandywine. Settled in Virginia shortly after the 
war closed. Removed to Ravenna in 1801, when there were 
but two families in that town. Purchased two hundred acres 
of land, paying three hundred dollars, but failed to procure a 
title. He settled in this town in 1809. Mr. Boosinger was 
rigidly honest ; a tanner and currier by trade. He had four- 
teen children ; thirteen of whom lived to man and womanhood. 
He died at the age of eighty-two years. No stone marks his 
resting place. 



Jotham Blakelee, a native of North Haven, Conn. He 
served apprenticeship in the ship-yard, at blacksmithing ; *fol- 



69 

lowed his trade some years in Woodbury. Settled, after his 
marriage, in Kent, Litchfield County. In 1805 exchanged 
his property with Starr of Goshen, for land in Ohio, — a part 
in Ravenna and part in Tallmadge. He received from Starr 
cash, in the bargain, sufficient to defray his expenses, with his 
family, to Ravenna, where he arrived in October, 1805. He 
had forty dollars left on his arrival. In February, 1809, he 
removed to this town ; cleared and cultivated a farm. Some 
years previous to his death he removed to Norton, (then in 
Medina County.) He worked at his trade in all places where 
he resided. He was an exemplary christian and valuable 
neighbor. 



In the month of May, 1802, might be seen, in Colebrook, 
Litchfield, Conn., adieus passing between the inhabitants of 
that town and a family about to leave for the far west. This 
family consisted of Capt. John Wright, four sons and two 
daughters, — the second son but recently married. 

Capt. Wright possessed an amiable disposition ; always 
appearing cheerful. In old age was a pleasing companion for 
young people. He settled in Ashtabula County, and from 
there removed to this place, in 1809. Capt. Wright served 
his country in the war of Independence. Never received a 
pension, not being able to go into a court of justice and make 
oath that he was in a state of starvation ; which was necessa- 
ry, under the first act of Congress granting pensions to the 
officers and soldiers of the Revolution. Before the more lib- 
eral pension acts of Congress were passed he was numbered 
with those that had lived. 

At the age of eighty-three, in July, 1825, he was gathered 
to his fathers. As he had lived a consistent christian, he died 
in the triumph of faith. 



John Wright, Jr., eldest son of Capt. Wright, removed 
from Ashtabula County in the spring of 1809, cultivated a 



70 

farm through life. He was remarkable for his attachment to 
his family, and notwithstanding he was less successful in ac- 
cumulating wealth than some of his neighbors, he had a com- 
petence ; gave his children a good education, and always 
appeared happy and cheerful, adorning the christian charac- 
ter. His death was in July, 1844, at the age of sixty-four. 

Dr. Amos C. Wright, second son of Capt. Wright, spent 
the summer of 1801 in Trumbull County, returned in the fall 
to Connecticut, and in May, 1802, in company with his fath- 
er's family, left that State and settled in Vienna, where he 
had an extensive practice in his profession. In 1808 he join- 
ed Mr. Bacon's colony, here. The town had not then received 
its name. He purchased a farm, and when not engaged in 
his profession cultivated the soil. As a physician he was at- 
tentive to his patients, — not hazardous in any case — success- 
ful in the diseases that were incident to the country. He was 
one at the organization of the church and labored through 
life to promote its prosperity. He was a warm friend and ad- 
vocate of the temperance cause. His extensive rides in his 
profession produced premature decay ; he died at the age of 
sixty^three, in May, 1845. 



Alpha Wright, youngest son of Capt. Wright, came in- 
to the town (unmarried,) in 1809, settling near his two older 
brothers. He and his aged parents were all one family. He 
was fond of good music in church, and was connected with the 
choir till the close of life. He was beloved by all that had 
the favor of his acquaintance. Of his general character, 
take a few of the last words in the 47th verse of the 1st chap. 
of John, " in whom there is no guile." He died in March, 
1856, aged sixty-seven. 

Edmund Strong, a native of Torrington, Litchfield Co., 
Conn. In February, 1802, Mr. Strong shouldered his knap- 
sack, set his face westward for New Connecticut. Near Buf- 



71 

falo, he met Rev. Joseph Badger, with his'' family, and drove 
his (Mr. Badger's) team through, and arrived in Morgan, Ash- 
tabula Co., in March, and was one of the first to commence 
improvements in that town. In February, 1809, Mr. Strong, 
in company with other families emigrated to Tallmadge. 
They left Morgan on Tuesday; stayed at Harpersfield the first 
night ; Wednesday at Painesville ; Thursday at Euclid ; Fri- 
day at Tinker's Creek ; Saturday at Boston ; Sunday at Hud- 
son ; Monday at Franklin ; crossed the bridge over the Cuya- 
hoga, at the narrows, Tuesday — passed through Brimfield 
into the south part of Tallmadge, arriving at Ephraim Clark's 
at 9 P. M. of same day. 

Mr. Strong was the first to commence improvements North 
of the center. He was a man of energy; somewhat abrupt 
in his address. What he undertook he uniformly accomplish- 
ed. He traveled the road several times, from Torrington to 
the Reserve ; generally on foot. On one occasion he, with 
one other, purchased a horse, to relieve them on their journey 
east. At or near Erie Mr. Strong told his companion that 
he intended to be in Connecticut on Thanksgiving day, and 
in order to effect it, he must leave him and the horse to pur- 
sue their onward way. Strong reached Connecticut four 
days before his companion with the horse. An incident 
occurred, whilst with Rev. Mr. Badger, that he took plea- 
sure in relating : In Pennsylvania they pitched their tent and 
kindled their fire, but had no bread. Mrs. Badger took some 
flour and water, and kneading it into a loaf placed it in the 
fire, covering it with ashes and coal. When eaten it was rel- 
ished by all. 

Mr. Strong removed to Mayfield, Cuyahoga Co., in 1835, 
and died August 26th, 1844, aged sixty-three years. He was 
a member of the church in Mayfield. His remains are in 
Tallmadge oemetery. 



Ephraim Clark was a native of Russell, Hampden Co., 
Mass. Soon after his son settled here, he came to reside with 
him. Being an old man he took no active part in the affairs 
of the town. Few men were closer observers of men and 
things animate or inanimate. Whilst a youth, if employed 
to turn a grindstone he always counted the number of evolu- 
tions the stone made in sharpening the tool. This trait of 
character he retained through life. He was a member of the 
congregational church, in Tallmadge, at the time of his death. 



John Cruthers, a native of Carlisle, Cumberland Co., Pa. 
In early life he settled in Butler Co., Pa., and in 1810 remov- 
ed to this township ; cultivated a farm ; was an agreeable and 
interesting neighbor, with a Avell balanced mind, and an ex- 
emplary professor of religion. He had no sympathy for the 
vices or follies of the age. His health became impaired some 
years previous to his death, and for several months he was 
entirely helpless. He died in December, 1855, at the age of 
seventy-seven. 



Stephen Upson, born in Southington, Conn. In early 
life settled in Blanford, Mass. Removed to Ohio in 1805, and 
located in Suffield. Removed to this town in 1809, and cul- 
tivated a farm through life. He had an opinion of his own — 
never pinning his faith on another's sleeve. It was only af- 
ter long acquaintance that he would confide in his fellow man. 
He never made a public profession of religion, but was a lib- 
eral supporter of its ordinances, and punctual in attending 
Sabbath worship. 

When on his journey to this state in the month of Februa- 
ry, 1805, with two two horse sleighs ; his brother John, his 
sister and a Mr. Hamilton, in company ; one of the teams, with 
the sleigh, was immersed in the lake. By cutting the har- 
ness he secured the horses and most valuable part of the load- 
ing. It was almost a miracle, that saved Miss Upson from 
drowning. 



Mr. Upson died in August, 1850, aged seventy-seven years. 

Reuben Upson, a native of Southington, Conn., settled in 
Waterbury ; from which town he emigrated to this State, in 
1807 ; settled in Tallmadge in 1811 ; uniting with the church 
soon after. He was modest and retiring ; had the confidence 
of all that knew him, and confided in them. All that knew 
him respected and honored him. His death, which occured 
in October, 1848, at the age of seventy-seven, was deeply 
lamented by his friends. 



Amongst those who followed in the wake of David Hud- 
son, from Goshen, Conn., to this State was Aaron Norton, 
a man of enterprise and energy. He had but little relish for 
felling the trees and clearing the land. In 1805 he erected a 
saw and grist mill, in Northampton, in this Countv. In the 
organization of Portage County, in June, 1807, Mr. Norton 
was appointed one of the Associate Judges. In 1808, Mr. 
Norton, in company with Joseph Hart, erected mills on the 
south branch of the Cuyahoga river, in Middlebury. In 
1816, he, with Mr. Laird, started a blast furnace on the same 
stream, half a mile above the mills. In 1817, Laird & Nor- 
ton, with Asaph Whittlesey, put a forge in operation, one 
mile below the mill on the same stream. In 1824, Mr. Nor- 
ton was elected Senator, from the district composed of Medi- 
na and Portage counties. He was faithful to the State and 
to his constituents. At the May term of the Common Pleas 
court, Mr. Norton had business at Ravenna ; while there he 
was attacked with a fever which terminated his active life, 
June 1st, 1825, at the age of forty-nine. 

Mr. Norton was of a cheerful turn — easy to be approach- 
ed — kind and friendly to all. He made a profession of religion 
in early life, and was a member of the church, in Tallmadge. 
at the time of his death. 



74 

David Preston was born in Ashfbrd, Windham Co., Conn. 
When quite young was bound to Mr. Spalding, in Canaan, 
Litchfield county. At the age of eighteen he enlisted in the 
army, and served several years in Willis' regiment. Was 
once taken prisoner and confined several months at the Cedars 
north of Ticonderoga. He was exchanged while Gen. Schuy- 
ler had the command of the northern army. In 1810 he 
left Canaan and settled in this town, with four sons and two 
daughters — one son and one daughter being married. Mr. 
Preston was possessed of an iron constitution. He suffered 
no one to go before him in the field. Was daring wherever 
danger was to be met. The prisoners at the Cedars suffered 
many insults from the Indians. Mr. Preston had an ink- 
stand with a penknife attached ; an Indian saw it and took it 
from him, placing it under his blanket in his bosom. David 
watched his opportunity, thrust his hand in the Indian's bosom 
and regained his property. This relic he kept and showed to 
his children when relating to them the incident. He was 
twice married, his last wife surviving him several years. He 
died in July, 1827, at the age of sixty-nine years. 

John S. Preston, eldest son of David, settled in this 
town, near his father's ; cultivated a farm a few years, and 
then removed to Cincinnati, where he died in May, 1821, at 
the age of thirty-six. 

He was an ingenious mechanic, and would make any imple- 
ment used on the farm, in a workmanlike manner. 



Samuel Preston, second son of David, was bred to the 
clothing business; unmarried when the family settled in the 
town. He was fond of reading ; had always a fund of anec- 
dote on hand, for any company. Possessing more " canvas 
than ballast," he became soured towards his fellow man, and 
joined the Shakers in Lebanon, where he died, in November, 
1825, aged thirty-seven. 



75 

Lot Preston, youngest son of David, settled on the same 
quarter section with his father. He was modest and retiring 
in his manners ; an accommodating neighbor ; a kind husband ; 
an indulgent parent, and consistent christian. His death was 
in September, 1847, at the age of fifty-three. 



Asaph Whittlesey, a native of New Preston, Connecticut. 
In early life Mr. Whittlesey engaged in the mercantile 
business in Southington, where he married. In 1812 he re- 
moved to this town and settled at the center, then a gloomy 
swamp. He then commenced clearing his farm with his own 
hands. Was shortly after elected magistrate, which office he 
held for several years. In April, 1814, a Post Office was es- 
tablished at Tallmadge — Mr. Whittlesey Post Master, which 
office he held until his death. He was a warm advocate of all 
the improvements made in the town ; his opinion was often 
solicited on matters of importance, and generally heeded. H^ 
had no scruples in telling others of their faults, and sometimes 
in rather an abrupt manner. In serving in public business he 
was always courteous ; not apt to give offence. Mr. Whit- 
tlesey had more public business to transact than any other 
individual that has ever lived in the town. He early enlisted 
in the temperance cause, in this place and the county. 

One occurrence while on his way with his family, from South- 
ington to this place, is worthy of note : His wagon in which 
were his wife and two little children was turned over. With 
the help of his hired man they were unable to right it so as 
to relieve his family. He dispatched his hired man for he?p, 
he knew not where. His wife shortly after told him she could 
not survive but a few moments longer, and bid him and every- 
thing of earth farewell. In this extremity he undertook what 
he and his hired man had tried in vain to accomplish ; with 
strength more than human he succeeded in righting the wag- 
on and rescuing his family. His useful life closed March 17, 
1842, at the age of sixty-one. He was ready when the sum- 
mons came. 



76 

Hosea Wilcox was born in Simsbury, Connecticut, 1754. 
Early in the war he enlisted in the army ; served one year, 
then procured two others to join the army, and was discharg- 
ed. Was at Quebec when Montgomery fell. In 1802 he 
left Connecticut and settled in Morgan, Ashtabula Co. ; re- 
moved to this town in 1812 ; cultivated a farm several years. 
He obtained a pension for his services in the army. Had 
remarkable colloquial faculties ; was an agreeable companion 
in all companies. United with the church soon after he set- 
tled here. Shortly after the death of his wife, in 1829, he 
settled in Ruggles, Ashland county. At the age of seventy- 
eight his active life terminated. 



William Neal, a native of New Hartford, Conn. In 
1799, he emigrated to Paris, Oneida county, New York, where 
he purchased and cultivated a good farm. He left that place 
in the winter of 1806-7 ; resided one year in Boardman, Ma- 
honing county, and in 1808 settled in Tallmadge. He resid- 
ed in this town and vicinity during the remainder of his life. 
His advantages, to obtain an education, in early life, were 
limited. He possessed considerable shrewdness in worldly af- 
fairs. The manner of his leaving Paris embittered the re- 
maining portion of his life. He died in December, 1842, 
at the age of seventy-eight. 

Justus Bradley, a native of Wallingford, Conn. Mr. 
Bradley settled in Burton, at an early day, followed his trade 
(a hatter) till 1810. He then removed to Tallmadge ; labor- 
ed on his farm most of the time, till his death, — which was in 
September, 1829. Mr. Bradley was a thorough man in busi- 
ness and a neat farmer. Unsocial except to intimate friends. 
He had an interesting family of children, three of whom were 
mutes. These three daughters commenced their education in 
this town, under the instruction of Col. Smith, and completed' 
rhem at the State asylum, in Columbus. 



77 

Philander Adams, was a native of New England ^settled 
in town, prior to the war of 1812 ; was engaged most of the 
time during the war in purchasing beef cattle for the comis- 
sary department ; a good judge of cattle and other property ; 
a social companion ; a man of strong mind. Very few men 
make more complete shipwreck of their talents than did Mr. 
Adams. He died in Randolph, several years since. 



Salmon Sackett, emigrated from Warren, Litchfield Co., 
Conn., his native place, in 1811, with a large family, and lo- 
cated south-east of the center. He was a man of ardent 
temperament ; deep toned piety, with a w f arm heart. It was 
often said of him, that he was all soul ; faithful to his friends, 
and. always ready to relieve those in distress. When he be- 
came fixed in his opinion on any subject he seldom changed 
his mind. One instance is an exception : when the friends of 
temperance formed a society to promote its cause in this town, 
he took no part, but stood aloof. He made no use of spirits. 
Some few years after, being at a raising where part drank, a 
man approached him with the jug, saying, "we don't belong 
to the cold-water party, let us take a good dram." His re- 
ply was, "I don't, but will, the first time I see the pledge. 
I will not be insulted by drunkards." He was as good as 
his word. His piety sustained him through life. The remark 
was made in his funeral sermon, that after his mind was so 
much gone that with difficulty he could know his old friends 
he would lead in the family devotion, with fervor and pro- 
priety. His death was in November, 1846, at the age of 
eighty-two. 



Norman Sackett, eldest son of Salmon, settled in this 
town at the same time of his father. He was, by trade, a 
cordwainer ; worked several years at his trade ; cultivated a 
farm, part of the time. Had a well cultivated mind ; was 
fond of reading, with a retentive memory ; a man of ardent 



78 

feelings, and a Warm friend. He took a deep interest in the 
prosperity of the church. When the cause of temperance 
was first agitated in this vicinity he engaged in it with a zeal 
that never abated through life. In tire year 1834 he purchase 
ed a large tract of land in Illinois. After the purchase he 
went on to the land, and whilst there contracted a disease 
that terminated his life in the month of August following ; 
aged forty-seven.. 



Drake Fellows, a native of Sheffield, Mass., settled in 
Tallmadge in 1810 ; cultivated a farm till near the close of 
life. Mr. Fellows was a man of decision of character; his 
opinion once fixed was seldom changed. He was a warm 
friend of the sabbath. In the year 1820 the sabbath school 
was abandoned, and through his influence was resuscitated' 
He was aware of his approaching dissolution, some years be- 
fore it took place, and set his house in order and watched for 
the summons. Died, June, 1845, aged sixty- seven. 



Jesse Neal, was born in New Hartford, Litchfield county, 
Conn., September 10th, 1786. He was apprenticed to the 
tinning business in New Hartford, Oneida county, New York, 
in 1802. After his indentures were canceled he worked at 
the trade — part of the time as a journeyman, and part of the 
time in his own shop. In 1812 he removed, with his family, 
to this place, and cultivated a farm about twelve years ; he 
then started a shop, following his trade ; at one time employ- 
ing six workmen. In 1851 he removed to Hudson, and there 
carried on the tinning business during the remainder of his 
life. Mr. N. united with the church by profession, in 1816, 
and lived a consistent, christian life. As early as 1852 he 
became satisfied that his end was approaching and commenced 
closing his affairs ; having completed them he waited patient- 
ly for the summons. The 10th of November, 1854, he 
thought of one item that needed attention — he sent for the 



79 

person that had done his business — the papers were arranged 
and read to him — he raised himself in bed, signed his name, 
and before the ink was dry he had ceased to breathe. Ag- 
ed sixty-eight. His remains were interred in Middlebury. 



Joseph Hart, a native of New Haven, Conn., in early 
life was a sailor, had command of a merchant vessel. Du- 
ring John Adams' administration was taken prisoner by a 
French cruiser. After his release he removed to Paris, Onei- 
da county, N. Y. In January, 1805, he came to Atwater, 
Portage county, and in 1808 he settled in this township, at 
Middlebury. Was connected with Aaron Norton, in starting 
a saw-mill and a grist-mill. In September, 1813, whilst on 
business in Cleveland he was attacked with a fever and sur- 
vived but a few days. His remains were interred there. 
Some efforts- have been recently made by his children to ascer- 
tain the location of his grave, but without success. 



Charles Chittenden, from Salisbury, Conn., settled in 
Canfield, Mahoning Co., in 1801. He removed to. this town 
in 1808. By trade a silversmith. He was a good scholar 
though not a classic one ; competent to transact and manage 
any business. Most of the time he resided in Canfield ; held 
some important public trust. He would manage a case be- 
fore a court and jury with ability. His health, for several 
years previous to his death, was so far impaired that he was 
unable to labor. Mr. Chittenden was connected with the 
Episcopal church. 

The first white child* born in this town was in this family. 
The motherf is yet living, and is present with us on this in- 
teresting occasion. He died February, 1835, aged fifty-eight. 



* Cornelia Chittenden, now Mrs. Newton of Hazle Green Til.; 
the mother of fifteen children — thirteen now living, 
t Widow of Maj. Rurus Hart. 



80 

Nathaniel Chapman, a native of Litchfield, Conn. In 
early life he lived in the family of Col. Joshua Porter, of 
Salisbury. Was intimate with the two sons of the Col., Peter 
B. and Augustus; named one of his sons after the latter. 
Having visited Canfield in the year 1800, he, the next year, 
removed his family to that town, taking the south road, with 
an ox team ; Avhen about ten miles short of his new home his 
team stuck in the mud — away from any help. He seated 
himself on a log reflecting on his situation, when the dog of 
his brother in Canfield came to him. He often said that he 
never met a friend he was as rejoiced to see as he was that 
dog. He knew that relief was near ; his brother soon ap- 
pearing with a yoke of oxen. He removed to Tallmadge in 
1808. uniting with the church soon after its organization ; was 
chosen deacon, which office he held until he united with the 
church in Middlebury. Was the first magistrate elected in 
the township. Some years previous to his death he became 
embarrassed, by being surety for a friend, which caused him 
much trouble. He was respected by all who had the favor of 
his acquaintance. He was three times married, surviving his 
last wife about ten months. Died, November, 1834, aged 
sixty-six. 



Jonathan Sprague, a native of Sharon, Litchfield county. 
Conn. Mr. Sprague removed to Canfield in 1801 ; from Can- 
field he removed to Tallmadge in 1808 ; united with the 
church the June after its organization. He was remarkable 
for his integrity, and deep toned piety. Was always governed 
by a fixed principle of action. Respected and beloved by all 
who knew him. Died in February, 1837, aged sixty-nine. 



Peter Norton, a native of Norfolk, Litchfield Co., Conn. 
In the early settlement of Oneida county, N. Y., Mr. Norton 
emigrated to Paris, and cultivated a farm. In 1801 he remov- 
ed to Vienna, Trumbull Co. In 1809, he purchased in Tall- 



81 



madge and, with his family, commenced improving his farm. 
A few years after he settled in Springfield, where he remained 
till his death. Few men Avere more attentive to their own 
concerns, and none less disposed to interfere with others af- 
fairs. He died August, 1822, aged fifty-two. 



By Dr. Amos Wright. — Fifty years ago the lofty forest, in 
its magnificent solitude and ceaseless murmur covered this en- 
tire township. The bear, the wolf and the dear were roaming 
abroad, — afraid of the Indian only. No roads — no houses, 
save a log cabin or two, with rank vegetation on every hand. 
As a boy I can recollect the muddy roads — the enormous log 
piles, accumulated during the process of clearing — the home- 
spun dresses — deerskin garments, and the barefooted children. 
One generation has passed away, whose whole energy was de- 
voted to the destruction of those grand old forests. But few 
now live of those famous wood-choppers, and they would laugh 
to see the puny efforts of the present race, in cutting ten acres 
of timber ready for logging. 

I can recollect when the sound of cannon, from Lake Erie, 
told of a battle ; when the gallant Perry saved this, then 
frontier settlement from the Indian scalping knife, or a hasty 
retreat to the east. I remember the time when the dread of 
a nightly attack from Indians brought whole neighborhoods 
together and made many an anxious mother's cheek turn pale. 
That period of our history has gone by. This model republic 
has been subject to the same diplomacy, agitated by the same 
party strife and rivalry as has been the lot of larger confeder- 
ations. The neighbors who gleaned on these fields now sleep 
side by side in yonder grave-yard ; change is written on all 
things, and the congregation carried, during the past fifty 
years, to that last resting place from this town, almost equals 
those who meet for religious services on the Sabbath. In the 
practice of my profession I have been called to the bedside of 
the sick ; I have seen the intemperate stricken down in early 
6 



82 



life — raving with delirium tremens ; the hopes of kind friends, 
for the beautiful and manty, blasted by the demon alcohol. 
I have seen the christian die exultant, strong in the faith of a 
glorious immortality — while the last look of wonder and joy 
was left on the face of the clay tenement. 

The retrospection of the past will tell us that the half cen- 
tury just closed has witnessed one of the most remarkable ad- 
vances recorded in the history of mankind. But where can 
you find a spot where there has been a greater change in out- 
ward appearance, or more uniform thrift than here. But the 
luxurious habits which have been the cause of decay in the 
older Republics may, even, now be undermining this fair fabric. 

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF ELIZUR WRIGHT, 
By Rev. Wm. Hanford. 

Elizur Wright, Esq., one of the early settlers of Tall- 
madge, was born in South Canaan, Ct., July 30, 1762. He 
was an only son, and an only child of his father excepting a 
sister who died in infancy. Special attention was paid to his 
mental and religious education. He was educated at Yale 
College, and was a member of that institution, when the stu- 
dents were scattered by the attack on New Haven, by a part 
of the British army. 

Having graduated at Yale College in 1781, and spent one 
year as a teacher at Weathersfield, Ct., he retired to the do- 
mestic residence of his parents, and dwelled with them while 
they lived. His time was occupied, in superintending his 
farm, private study, flitting young men for College, instruct- 
ing his household, and discharging the public duties, imposed 
on him by his fellow citizens. While residing at Weathers- 
field, he became acquainted with Miss Rhoda Hanmer, to 
whom he was married in the year 1784, and who was the 
mother of his five eldest children now living. She died in 
1798. He was married again, in 1803, to Miss Clarisa 
Richards, who departed this life in 1843, at Elyria. But 
three of her children survive. 



ho 

ElizukWiuuht was early in life elected a member of the 
State Legislature, and was continued in that body a number 
of years. For nearly an equal period he served his native 
town in the capacity ot justice of the peace. He early chose 
the Lord Jesus for his Savior, united with the Congregation- 
al Church, and served them several years as a deacon, before 
he removed to the west. 

When the decision was formed to leave his native place for 
the wilds of Ohio, he exchanged his patrimonial farm for three 
thousand acres of land in this township. In 1809 he made a 
journey to this place and selected his land. Having made 
arrangements for the erection of a log house, and the clearing 
of several acres of land, he returned to Connecticut for his 
family. The next year, 1810, he left Connecticut, with his 
household. The family consisted of the parents, eight chil- 
dren, and two hired men. The goods of the family, to be 
transported to Ohio, were packed in two covered wagons, each 
drawn by two yoke of oxen. The family were conveyed in a 
covered carriage, drawn by two horses. The three teams 
kept in company during the whole journey. After a pilgrim- 
age of thirty-nine days, they all arrived safely in Tallmadge, 
and took up their abode in a double log house a few rods from 
the ground on which we are now assembled, then a widerness. 
Esq. Wright sold his land to actual settlers, at a small ad- 
vance on what he paid for it, and generally on very easy 
terms of payment, for the purchaser. He resided on his farm 
making improvements, until the year 1831, when he sold it 
and purchased the place, now " the parsonage! " On that 
place he lived till the marriage of his eldest daughter by the 
second Mrs. Wright. At the urgent request of that daugh- 
ter and her husband, the aged parents removed to Elyria, and 
took up their abode in that family, in which Mrs. Wright 
continued to reside until her death in 1843, and Mr. Wright 
until the spring of 1845. He then returned to Tallmadge 
and spent* the few remaining months of his useful life. 



84 

He was a good scholar and a warm friend of education. — 
He was a member of the " Phi Beta Kappa " society in Yale 
College and also of the C. A. Gr. In the publications of the 
la3t named society are a number of articles from hi? pen. — 
Several of his productions are in Prof. Silliman's Journal of 
Science. He was instrumental in establishing an Academy 
in Tallmadge at an early day, and though late in life, taught 
it several seasons. In the establishment and endowment of 
the Western Reserve College, he was not an idle spectator. 
His influence and his property were both employed, and he 
acted as a trustee, until a sense of the infirmaties of age in- 
fluenced him to resign. 

For the cause of piety and benevolence, his was the ardent 
heart, and the open hand. If his place was vacant at the 
prayer meeting, at the social christian circle, or in the sanc- 
tuary, it was safe to conclude that he was confined with 
sickness, or was out of town. The solicitor for a benevolent 
object did not call on him in vain. At the formation of the 
Western Reserve Bible Society, in the year 1814, he was elect- 
ed President, to which office he was annually re-elected until 
that society was dissolved for the purpose of forming county so- 
cieties on the Reserve. It is believe that he was never absent 
from an annual meeting of that society. To sustain the pub- 
lic institutions of religion, he was always ready to do his 
part and even more than his part. As in Canaan so in Tall- 
madge, he served the church as a deacon, and for a season 
the township as a justice of the peace. 

Elizur Wright was the friend of peace, as many sacri- 
fices, cheerfully made for its attainment, clearly show. His 
aim in living, was usefulness. In the pursuit of this object, 
he did not labor in vain. In the domestic circle, he Avas a 
pattern of meekness, kindness, affection and faithfulness. — 
Having devotedly served God and his generation, he fell 
asleep in Jesus, December, 1845, at the dwelling house of his 
youngest daughter, by his first wife, which daughter cheer- 



85 

fully ministered to the necessities of a beloved father, during 
the few last months of his life. 



Hon. Q. F. Atkins being called on, arose and said, " Mr. 
President,. Ladies and Gentlemen, my feeble health and ad- 
vanced age should be a .sufficient apology for my declining to 
address you on this occasion. Your fathers ! where are they? 
And the prophets ! do they live forever ? We are constantly 
reminded of our mortality. The biographies that we have 
just listened to is evidence that we must soon leave this world 
and enter on that state of existence that never ends. A bi- 
ography of the early females of the township would have giv- 
en interest to the celebration. At the close of another fifty 
years most of us now present will be numbered with the dead. 



SG 

LOG CABIN TIMES IN TALLMADGE.-REMARKS OF 
COL. WHITTLESEY. 

My youthful recollections of the Log Cabin times in Tall- 
madge, remain as vivid and fresh, as though only a few days 
had passed since the realities occurred, and since the public 
square was covered by a heavy growth of forest trees. 

My father reached the center of this township, in July, 1813, 
having the previous year came out alone from Southington, 
Connecticut — cleared a few acres of ground, and built a cab- 
in. This was on the North side of the square, East of the 
North and South road. 

The well between the present Academy building, and the 
red house, was dug for that cabin, and stood at its North 
East corner. I have often seen the owls on a clear night, sit- 
ting on the well-sweep, intently watching the hens that roost- 
ed in the wood-shed. Often has my father been called out of 
his bed by the agonizing cry of his fowls in the clutches of an 
owl. 

The". South West quarter "of the square had been slashed 
the year before. When I first saw it, it had the appearance 
of a luxuriant field of fire-weed. This weed which invariably 
grows up in all newly made clearings, grew to the height of a 
man, and concealed from view, the Stumps, logs and brush, 
that still remained upon the ground. Its ripened seed, 
like the thistle, being furnished with wings or floats, was 
borne by the wind in every direction, filling the air with white 
woolly flocks. On a sunny fall day, with a light breeze, these 
white floating objects glistened in the sun like moving insects, 
enjoying themselves in their native element. On the other 
quarter of the square, the native forest remained untouched. 
The South East portion was an impenetrable swamp, of wil- 
low, wild rose bushes, and alders. The water collected in the 
winter months here, and while it was frozen over, we hunted 
rabbits with great success, and in the Spring, it was the happy 
abode of thousands of croaking frogs. 



87 

When my father's family reached their destination, this place 
which now looks so inviting did not present a very cheering 
aspect. For many days it had been raining. He came by 
way of Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Canfield, entering Tall- 
madge from Stow corners, by the North and South center 
roads. Night overtook us at the cabin of Mr. Edmund Strong, 
which then stood m the garden South of the house of the late 
Joseph Fenn, one mile North of the center. Here we stayed 
till morning. Mr. and Mrs. Strong displayed toward our tired 
and dripping company, that enlarged hospitality, known only 
among the Pioneers of a new settlement. There is hospitality 
everywhere, but in its fullest and noblest development, it is 
no where to be found as it exists in the cabin in the woods. - 

The road from Mr. Strong's to the center, was a crooked 
path through the timber — generally to the East of the survey- 
ed road as it is now traveled. In these days, that track would 
be considered ] impassible, to any vehicle. But after some 
hours, my father and his ox team, with the wagon, family, and 
household stuff, reached our new home. Wet, and fatigued, 
we entered the cabin, where my mother sat down on a box and 
cried. Probably this has been the experience of thousands 
of "Pioneer women," but we all know how soon this sadness 
gives place to an heroic cheerfulness. The history of the wes- 
tern world, glows with the most honorable testimony, to the 
courage and endurance of woman. 

Our first meal was eaten upon a board, placed across a box, 
about two feet high. Around this board were my father, my 
mother, myself, and my younger brother, Samuel. 

The house was soon furnished with doors and windows, and 
a bedroom partitioned off. The chimney was already up, and 
it had over those of our neighbors, this aristocratic distinction, 
that the jambs and mantle^were of cut stone. The body of 
the chimney was made in the usual way, of sticks daubed with 
mud, in which, cut straw had been mixed, in the place of hair. 
This i eason, the timber was slashed on the North East quarter 
of the public square. 



88 

There was some kind of grain in the cleared space North 
of the house, into which the wild turkeys were very fond of 
coming. My father, though no hunter, kept an old shot gun 
as a means of defense. It was generally so much out of order, 
that it was not easy to discharge it without the assistance of 
a second party. One day the turkeys came so near, that my 
father determined to punish them, and standing in his door, 
essayed to fire his gun, but it refused to go off, till my mother 
applied a brand of fire to the priming. The turkeys departed 
rather hastily, but without any apparent damage. 

In this field, the year previous, my father heard the dull 
boom of the guns on board Perry's fleet, in the action at the 
Islands. After the field was laid down in grass, I have seen 
deer come into it and feed, at their leisure. The next ground 
cleared was a field West of the road, and North of the meet- 
ing house. A little to the North of this field, and near where 
Mr. Brundige's barn now stands, a bear took one of my fa- 
ther's hogs, and ran off with it, within ten rods of where he 
was at work. 

Soon after we arrived, the seat of learning was removed 
from the log house in Mr. Alpha Weight's orchard to the 
abandoned cabin of Mr. G. Kilburn, which stood in the gar- 
den South of the Parmelee House. I remember the raising 
of Mr. Kilburn's kitchen and wood-house, which stood on 
the ground now occupied by the Parmelee House, and which 
was afterward burned. My mother and myself were sitting 
in our cabin door, and heard a loud crash in the direction of 
the raising. She thought the timbers had fallen, and some 
one hurt, and I was despatched through the woods to see 
about father ; but found them all safe and enjoying them- 
selves very much. 

The frame was up, and cake and whiskey were the princi- 
pal objects of attention. I thought some of the jokes I heard 
were of the first quality, but cannot report any of them now. 
The crash which disturbed my mother, was caused by a tree 
that fell, near where the burying ground now is. 



m 

At this time, and for many years before the road leading 
south from the cenetr was opened through the swamp, it was 
carried around the swamp to the west, along the foot of the 
hill. 

The first teacher I remember was Miss Coe, of Charlestown, 
who was married to Mr. Martin Camp. They came from 
Charlestown after the wedding on horseback, and the bride 
had the unusual felicity to be the mistress of a frame house. 
This building is part of the house owned by Jotham Blakes- 
lee, north of the brick house built by my father, now owned 
by Mr. Brundige. While at Miss Coe's school we regarded 
Camp bi'ook as a stream of much consequence : we ventured 
into it to catch minnies with fear of being drowned. It was 
a heinous offence to get ourselves wet therein ; and our legs 
were frequently made to tingle with a switch on that account. 
When the old school house was erected, near where the town 
hall is now situated — it stood in the edge of a swamp. I 
have often been sent there to procure the supply of switches 
for the day. In fact the youngsters of the day who suffered 
most from their application, accused the trustees of locating 
the school with a view to having a convenient place to get 
whips. The switches were made supple and tough by running 
them through hot ashes in the ample school house fire-place. 

I think the first academy, which stood where the meeting- 
house does now, was commenced in 1815. Behind it was a 
small " cat swamp," filled with roses, and around the building 
on the other sides the forest was not far distant. The upper 
part was used for the academic scholars, and the lower for the 
common or district school. Under this arrangement a feud 
soon sprang up between the boys of the two institutions. 
Perhaps Dr. Amos Wright remembers getting a bloody nose 
in one of these combats. In those days every scholar who 
could swing an axe, cut his portion of the fire wood for the 
school. The timber stood so near, that by felling the trees 
toward the building, the wood required no hauling. The 



90 

loose brush and sprouts that lay around proved a great con- 
venience to the "blood-thirsty" pedagogue of those times. 
Mr. Sidney Wright no doubt remembers one by the name 
of Andrews. Mr. Wright and the late Rev. A. K. Wright, 
together Avith myself, were detained one evening after school, 
to receive a pounding with a ferule. Sidney's offence consist- 
ed in being seen with a pair of leather goggles on his nose. 
As the aforesaid Andrews usually wore goggles, these leather 
substitutes were regarded as a reflection upon the dignity of 
the school master. While Sidney was being mauled with the 
ferule, Aaron and myself conceived the project of an escape, 
and immediately ran out of the door. Seizing a stick from 
the brush around the door, Andrews gave his first attention to 
Aaron, but he being active and long legged, outran the ex- 
cited teacher. Sidney and myself also escaped. The result 
of the partial assault he had made upon Sidney's hand, with 
the ferule, was such that for several days he was unable to 
write. This specimen of the teachers of that era had another 
mode of punishment, which I never saw or heard of elsewhere. 
He would take the wooden poker from the fire-place, and put 
the charred end in the mouth of one culprit, and the other 
end in the mouth of another. Thus they stood, facing each 
other before the school, with the poker between them, each 
holding one end in his mouth. Occasionally he would com- 
mand them to change ends, in order to equalize the punish- 
ment. He was eventually dismissed from the school for his 
cruelty. In 1818-19, before the first academy was burnt, 
this school was regarded throughout the country for 50 or 60 
miles around, as not to be excelled. A large number of stu- 
dents, fronTvarious parts of the Reserve, attended there, full 
of emulation, and made rapid progress in knowledge ; — among 
them was the late George Kirkum, from Norton, then Medina 
County. 

In front of Dr. A. Wright's house, south of the elm tree, 
was our' skating ground. Before it was cleared in that direc- 



91 

tion, I was hunting for the coavs one evening, on the little 
rivulet just west of the centre, in company with a man by the 
name of Pettibone. We saw a raccoon which Mr. P. chased 
up a small tree. We managed to shake him off, and he start- 
ed down the stream. As the coon dodged under a log that was 
used as a foot crossing at the east and west road, Pettibone 
jumped over it, lighting on the animal's back. He was seiz- 
ed by the hind legs and his brains knocked out against a tree. 
These creatures were much hunted, because they destroyed 
the corn. Indeed all crops were attacked by a great variety 
of destructive animals ; preying upon the crops in some way, 
from the moment the seed was put into the ground until it 
it was ripened, harvested and sold. 

No country was better stocked with wild game, from the 
Bear and the Wolf down to the Wood-Mouse. It was a 
common thing, in the summer time, to see black snakes and 
black and yellow rattlesnakes crawling among the weeds 
and bushes. 

I do not know whether Dr. Amos Wright has forgotten the 
narrow escape which we had from the fall of a tree in the road, 
in front of his father's house. — Our brothers, Aaron and 
Samuel were playing with a little hand-cart in the street. 
There was a large black oak near by, which had been " gir- 
dled," and was quite dry and rotten. There was no wind, 
but we heard a short, snapping sound, and looking up we saw 
the old tree was falling. Yv r e deserted the little cart and ran 
in various' directions, while the decayed trunk fell upon it, 
crushing it in pieces 

Mr. Jotham Blakeslee states that as early as 1808 or 1809, 
when himself and his father-in-law, Jotham Blakeslee, worked 
at their trade in a shop in the.south-east part of the township, 
he found coal there on the land of Col. Meacham. 

This was near the south-east corner of the township, and 
the bed was only about one foot thick ; but he occasionally 
dug it with a mattock and carried it to the shop in a bag. 



92 

When Mr. Blakeslee removed to the village of Middlebury, 
in the south-west corner of the township, he procured coal 
from the land of Deacon Elizur Wright, one mile west of the 
Centre, where it was discovered in 1810. 

This was in a ravine north of the East and West centre 
road, and the coal lay in the bed of a rivulet, without any 
cover, so that it was easily obtained. 

Perhaps Mr. Blakeslee remembers how he was accosted by 
Mr. Justus Barnes, as he (Blakeslee) was driving a team 
across a field of new wheat, to get a load of this coal. If 
reports are true, Mr. Barnes approached Blakeslee on that 
occasion with an axe raised in a manner somewhat threaten- 
ening, and made use, at the same time, of some expressions 
not of the most friendly character. 

Deacon Wright sold the coal privilege to Mr. Wallace, of 
Northfield, and from him it came to Asaph Whittlesey and 
Sam'l. Newton. By the year 1824 the demand for coal was 
considerable, and at that time no other mine was opened. 
About this time Henry Newbury, of Cuyahoga Falls, came to 
the Western country, and not long after discovered a seam of 
the same thickness, (say four feet,) at the north-west six cor- 
ners, one mile north of Whittlesey and Newton bank, on 
the same side of the hill. 

When the Ohio canal was opened to Akron, in 1827, it waa 
thought coal might be taken in wagons from the mines, about 
three miles to the canal, at lock 16, north of Akron. Mr. 
Newbury tried the experiment, I think, in 1828, but the Canal 
Collector's returns do not show receipts of coal till 1829. 

Deacon E. Wright, and his son, Francis H. Wright, about 
this time made an entry on the east side of the Coal Hill, 
about one-fourth of a mile south of Newbury's. In 1830 or 
1831, Mr. Cyrus Mendenhall, formerly of Cleveland, and 
now a member of the Legislature from Jefferson County, made 
explorations and borings on Coal Hill. He found and opened 
coal at the south end of the hill, but it was too thin to work 



93 

profitably. Another opening was made at that end of the 
ridge by Mr. Woodruff soon after, and this was worked till 
1838. From 1829 to 1837, Mr. Newbury, Mr. F. H. Wright 
and Messrs. Whittlesey and Newton, mined coal for the Cleve- 
land market, which was hauled to the canal at lock 16. 

In the year 1833 the Canal was completed to Massillon, 
where Mr. Mendenhall had opened a mine on the Canal and 
immediately began to ship coal to Cleveland. The Canal 
receipts between 1829 and 1832, are therefore a correct state- 
ment of the Tallmadge foreign coal business in its infancy. 

Received at Cleveland — 

In 1829 108 tons 

In 1830 -------- 178 do 

In 1831 -------- 294 do 

In* 1832 431 do 

In 1838 the charter of the Tallmadge Coal Company was 
procured in the Legislature by Dr. Daniel Upson, and in 1839 . 
the coal rights in Coal Hill were consolidated under this 
charter, with the exception of Mr. Newbury's. The stock 
was principally held by Daniel Upson, Francis H. Wright and 
Charles Whittlesey. 

When my father had purchased the farm of Mr. Barnes in 
1824, the road through long swamp had not been made passa- 
ble. We crossed on logs, and frequently saw the shining 
form of the Blacksnake sliding from bush to bush among the 
elders. 

After the " New Academy " was built on the corner where 
Mr. Carter's store now stands, a society was formed among 
the young men and young ladies, the name of which I cannot 
now recall, but think it was known as the " Tallmadge Liter- 
ary Association." 

It differed from any Literary Society I know of, and was as 
useful as it was original. It was not a debating but a ques- 
tioning society. Compositions were read, but the principal 
occupation of the evening consisted in asking and answering 
questions. Any one could put an enquiry to any other mem- 



94 

ber, relating to useful or interesting knowledge. If the per- 
son questioned could not reply, lie could request another to 
do so, including the member who had propounded it. It 
often happened that he could not answer his own questions. 
There was a constitution, an admission fee, by-laws, and the 
usual array of functionaries. Extempore orations were in 
order when they naturally arose from the subjects introduced. 
Tho effect of this mode of giving and receiving general 
intelligence was decidedly marked, as it fixed upon the mem- 
ory whatever transpired more permanently than the ordinary 
teachings at school. 

Thus I might continue the recital of events that crowd to 
mind when we refer to the log cabin days. In themselves 
they may appear as trifles, but they are trifles that relate to 
real, earnest life, and life in a phase that can never occur 
again. With the survivors of those days they possess a deep 
interest and to those who are present, who are descendants of 
the pioneer fathers of Tallmadge. 



Note. — The annexed extracts from letters of our parents 
to their friends at the East, relate to events that occurred du- 
ring the war of 1812. They were collected by my sister, 
Mrs. Mary V. Walton, in Connecticut, and present too 
lively a picture of the state of the settlement at that time to 
be omitted from the annals of the township. 

Why will not the descendants of the early families in Tall- 
madge make an effort to recover the correspondence of their 
ancestors, before it is entirely lost. These old letters are the 
only reliable history of the first ten years of the settlement, 
as any one will discover who attempts to procure such facts 
solely from the memory of the living. C. W. 



95 

Asaph Whittle sr to Vesta Whittlesy. 

Dated Canfield, July 6, 1812 — soon after reaching Ohio. 
This letter is very much mutilated. 

Dearly beloved wife, (Southington, Conn.) 

I have the satisfaction to inform 
you that I continue to enjoy good health, and Harvey, Elisha, 
and our connections enjoy the same. I have not yet made a 
location, although I have spent considerable time looking 
about the country for that purpose. 

I have found a place in Tallmadge which I think (2 or 
3 words wanting) determined on before now. I shall probably 
(2 or three words gone) in a day or two. 

The place is entirely new — no clearing whatever in the 
center of the place. I think the land is very good, and the 
water is good for washing. I contemplate, if 1 buy, to have 
center lots of about eight acres each, and one or two adjoining 
of thirty acres. My object in buying two center lots is to 
have one for Dr. Ames if he should think of going there. 

I like Tallmadge bette,r on several accounts than any other 
place I have seen. The settlers in this town are much the 
most respectable of any on the Reserve. There is provision 
made for the permanent support of preaching which is not the 
case in any other town. The money is raised by a small tax 
on the land, and the consequence is, that people who do not 
wish to support the Gospel will not purchase, while those who 
do, purchase here in preference to any other place. If I 
should be disposed to enter into trade, there is no store within 
fifteen or twenty miles of this place. There are several peo- 
ple with whom I have some acquaintance : Deacon Wright, of 
Canaan, Deacon Sacket of Warren (a name destroyed,) Eph- 
raim Clark, formerly of Southington, with his family and con- 
nections, and a Mr. Kilborn, from Berlin. 

On the 25th of June I was present at the execution, (afci 
Cleveland) of the Indian who was one of the murderers of the 
men at Cold Creek, near Sandusky Bay. 



96 

The inhabitants of the frontier are somewhat alarmed on 
account of the savages, since the declaration of war, and men 
are marching from the towns about here to protect them. 

The declaration reached here on the 28th of June, and the 
volunteers had orders to march several days previous to that 
time. People in this State have been very anxious, heretofore, 
for war, and have been very forward in volunteering their ser- 
vices ; but when they received orders to march, they thought 
quite (a word gone) about it, and would be glad if our differ- 
ences could be adjusted, and are (a word obliterated) their ut- 
most to have men go in their places. 



I have concluded to go to Tallmadge and set out to-morrow 
to try my hand at clearing land. 

In future direct your letters to Tallmadge, to be left at the 
Post Office in Stow, which will be the nearest office. 



Tallmadge, July 28, 1812. 
Dear wife, (Southington, Conn.) 



I have a contract for about 1500 acres of land in this town, 
from Gen. Wadsworth, Esq. Mygatt, and my brother Elisha; 
and have begun to clear,in fact have cleared all I expect to this 
fall, being about seven acres, which we expect to sow with 
wheat before we return. Our clearings are on two of the 
centre lots of 8 acres each. I have agreed with a man to 
build a log house, between this time and spring, so that we can 
move into it if we come out here at that time. 

We board at Deacon Kilborn's, live very comfortably, have 
good health ; and work like horses. We have done most of 
the chopping, (Harvey and myself) and cut the timber to 



97 

fence with * * * 

I do not know but it will make you sick of coming here, 
talking of log houses ; but of forty houses in this town, there 
is not a framed one among them, which is not owing to the 
poverty of the people, for men worth from 5 to 10,000 dollars 
live in log houses. 

I am persuaded that if any of our friends think of going 
to a new country, they will find none that they will be so well 
pleased with, either on account of the quality of the land or 
of the society. I do not think there is in the State of Con- 
necticut a society where there is that attention paid to the 
Sabbath, and to religion generally, that there is here. There 
are very few who do not attend meeting regularly, and very 
few prayerless families. 



Tallmadge, August 10, 1812. 
Dear wife, (Southington) — 
Your kind and affectionate letter of the 29th of June, I 
received on the 3d of August, having gone up to Stow, five 
miles, on purpose for it. 



With respect to roads, they are bad, to be sure, like roads 
in all new countries, but perhaps there is no country in the 
world that will eventually have better roads than this. The 
land is excellent for it, and they are laid out perfectly straight. 
There is one running east and west through the south tier of 
towns, in New Connecticut, (the Reserve) 120 miles in length, 
which is entirely straight, with no hill of any size in the 
whole distance. 

We feel perfectly safe on account of Indians as yet, al- 
though a few nights ago people were very much alarmed for 
a short time. A couple of men passed here who came from 
7 



US 

within a few miles of Canton ; 20 miles south of this place, 
and reported that there were 500 Indians within twelve miles- 
of that place, and the night before had murdered four fami- 
lies ; and also that people living in the neighborhood of 
Canton were moving in as fast as possible, where they kept 
guard all night ; that the Indians had come in consequence 
of the defeat of General Hull. They also added that they 
saw the militia marching down to assist the people of Canton, 
This report came in the afternoon, and the next morning we- 
heard what gave rise to it. 

Two men were out hunting, one of whom did not return,, 
and the one who did return, being fearful his companion might 
be lost in the woods, fired his gun occasionally, in order to di- 
rect him in his course. Other people, who heard this firing 
in the night time, gave the alarm that it was Indians, and 
started off at full speed. The four families who were suppos- 
ed to be murdered, remained where they were, probably not 
hearing the alarm ; but not being found among those that fled, % 
were supposed to have been cut off. This story made a great 
stir for the time, but there has not been an Indian seen within 
150 miles of here in six months, except the one that was hung 
at .Cleveland. 

I am sorry that Dr. Ames could not prosecute his journey 
here, for I believe it would have been of benefit to his health ; 
people here say that there has never been an instance of a 
person taken with consumption in this country, and very many 
that have it, recover on coming here. Many have come here 
on that account. 



Vesta Whittlesey to Hannah Clark. 

Tallmadge, July 28, 1813. 
Dear Grand-mother, (Southington) — 
Through the goodness of God we have at length arrived at 
our place of abode, and are pretty well settled here * * 



99 

I have not been homesick at all since vre have been here, 
although I was quite so on the road, in the State of Pennsyl- 
vania ; but it would be finding fault with Providence to com- 
plain, or be uneasy, after receiving such special favors at his 

hands. 

You have probably heard through a letter of Mr. Whittlesey, 
of our misfortunes on the road. I think we should not have 
survived five minutes longer. My feelings cannot be describ- 
ed, and I cannot think of it without tears. * 

(She refers to the upsetting of their wagon a few miles 
this side of Pittsburgh. Only a fragment of a previous letter 
has been recovered, which is given at the close of this letter.) 

I have not yet recovered from my hurt, and never expect 
to. Our children have had the chicken-pox since we came 
here, 4 weeks ago, but are now better. 

I visit Connecticut almost nightly in my dreams, which is 
some satisfaction. But I tell you I^ain better pleased with 
the place than I expected, though you may think it flattery ; 
but it is not. 

Our nearest neighbor south is about a quarter of a mile, 
the most kind, obliging* and Christian people I ever saw— their 
name is Kilbourn. (George Kilbourn and Almira, his wife, 
still living, 1857.) 

Our house is comfortable but is not finished— we expect to 
do it after harvest * 

As to provisions, we do very well. They had prepared flour 
from five bushels of excellent wheat ; a keg of maple sugar ; 
nearly a barrel of pork; lard, butter, soap, vinegar; a cow 
and all things necessary. It was strange to see the rejoicing 
there appeared to be on our arrival. One sent me some dried 
pumpkin, another milk, berries, and so on. Sophia Kilbourn 
has helped me just when I needed help, and is the finest of 
girls. As to neighbors and acquaintances, I have a most 
agreeable circle ; and I find many who were acquainted with 
you all. I have had a number of tea parties, and yesterday 



100 

afternoon we had Mr. George Kilbourn and wife, Ephraim 
Clark and wife Judge Norton and wife, Mr. Woodruff, a mis- 
sionary from Litchfield, and Sophia Kilbourn. You will 
perhaps smilingly ask how I entertain them. Very well. Our 
floors are of good whitewood boards ; our table is a borrowed 
one, so small that only four or five can sit at it at a time ; but 
I take up a board of the right length from my chamber floor, 
put it on the table, and cover it with a cloth. My china be- 
comes it very well, and we have excellent meals, most fre- 
quently relished better by a blessing. 

We have had preaching three Sabbaths since we came, and 
two lectures, and a conference at Mr. Clark's every Sabbath, 
after meeting. 

There have been four different priests to visit us ; and week 
before last we attended a wedding : the Rev. John Seward 
to Miss Harriet Wright, daughter of Esquire Wright, for- 
merly of Canaan. There were about 30 present, and but one 
or two that were not dressed in silk or cambric. 

As to the quantity of land cleared within sight of our 
house there are about 30 acres, including the centre, and a lot 
Asaph has cut, but not yet logged. They have cleared three 
or four acres in front of our house, and by going four or five 
rods we can see four houses, all within three-quarters of a 
mile. * * :: ' * We are now har- 

vesting wheat, of which we have a good crop, and are cut- 
ting away the dry trees from our home lot, in order to set 
out apple trees this fall. 

I can give no one wishing to come here encouragement 
about good roads, for I think there can be no worse ones any- 
where, than from the eastern side of the Alleghanies, to this 
place. As to the country I can give every encouragement. 
The timber is large, tall, and straight. It is said an ox team 
is the best to move with ; but coming only to see the country, 
the cheapest, and nearly as speedy a way, is to come on foot, 
and by the northern route. 



101 

Fragment of a previous letter, without date, but writ- 
ten FROM CANFIELD IN JUNE OR JULY, 1813. 

(Mr. Whittlesey.) In some way or other, he 

knows not how, he got us all out before any assistance could 
be had. We had concluded we could not live five minutes 
longer — both of us. This scene of distress you cannot, and 
I hope will not realize. We thought for some time my darl- 
ing child Samuel was dead, and pryed open his mouth, blow- 
ing into his nostrils, and in a few minutes he recovered. I 

o 7 

suppose he was smothered. We were scarcely able to breathe 
ourselves, and Samuel was under me, but was hurt only a 
little. Sophia hurt the side of her face and her arm. I was 
very badly bruised in at least twenty places, and could not 
walk for three days without assistance. When Samuel recov- 
ered I fainted several times, and we had no light. There was 
no water except that which was muddy, which they threw in 
my face ; but it was with the greatest difficulty I could — 



Asaph Whittlesey to John Whittlesey. 

Tallmadge, Dec. 13, 1813. 

Dear Brother : — We arrived here near the last of June, 
after a tedious journey of about a month. We were some- 
what longer on the road than I expected, on account of the 
traveling being uncommonly bad. The land which I contract- 
ed to be cleared last year, not having been done, be- 
cause the men were called into the service last fall; my 
immediate attention was required to clearing and fencing. 
Above all things, we have to procure, provide and supply every 
household convenience. We bad indeed a log house, nearly 
finished, two bedsteads and some chairs, and the neighbors 
were remarkably kind in lending us such things as we stood 
in immediate need of ; but still there are many things, both 
convenient and necessary, that cannot be procured, especially 
in the woods, without labor. 

I would not have it understood that I am complaining of 



102 

our hard lot, or that I am disappointed — I only mention these 
things as an excuse for not writing before. 

Brother Elisha informed you of our arrival in Canfield, and' 
of our narrow escape when the wagon turned over. Vesta 
was very much hurt, and has since been quite ^feeble until 
lately. It was the most trying scene that I ever passed through. 
To have all of ones family placed in a situation where they 
could not and did not expect to live but a few minutes, crying 
for help, and to the Lord to have mercy on their souls, until 
they were unable to make any sound but a feeble groan, was- 
indeed distressing. Samuel was supposed to be dead, 15 or 
20 minutes after we got him out. Charles was hurt but little. 
My wife was carried in a blanket more than half a mile to a 
house, and it was four or five days before she could stand upon 
her feet. 

We are this winter making preparations to build a school- 
house. It will cost at least $300, and will answer for the 
present as a place of worship. Mr. Woodruff, a missionary, 
has been preaching here part of the summer, and has received 
offers of settlement. We expect, from what he has intimated^ 
his answer will be favorable. We are to give him $200 a 
year, for half his time, for five years ; and at the end of that 
time $400 a year for his whole time. At the expiration of 
ten years he is to have $500, which is more, considering the 
difference inliving,than many ministers receive in Connecticut. 

As it regards our condition in relation to the war and the 
Indians, our fears are entirely removed. We consider our- 
selves in the safest part of the United States. The great vic- 
tory obtained by Commodore Perry over the British, on Lake 
Erie, has removed the field of operations entirely from our 
shores. The cannonading in that action was distinctly heard 
at our house. The burdens of the war fall very heavy upon 
the western country. Salt is $5,00 per 56 pounds, and very 
difficult to be had ; but since we have possession of the lake, 
we expect it will be as low as usual in the spring — that is, five 
or six dollars for a barrel. 



103 

Vesta Whittlesey to Mrs. Nancy Whittlesey. 

Tallmadge, March 26, 1814. 
Dear Sister, (Southington) — 

Spring is fast approaching, and this day is delightful. We 
have had hut little sleighing this winter, the weather having 
been mild and variable. Large quantities of maple sugar 
have been made this season, which can be purchased for 6 to 
8 cents a pound, as much as you please. Great quantities of 
liomey have been found in the woods. We enjoy a comforta- 
ble subsistence, good society, and an excellent minister, who 
is to be ordained on the 18th of May next. 

Appointments are made for Post-Masters in the different 
towns from Hudson to Canton ; the mail to be carried at the 
expense of the inhabitants. A petition is, however, being 
sent to Congress, to have a post road establishod from Cleve- 
land to Canton. Mr. Whittlesey is appointed Post-Master here. 

The Same, to her Parents, Samuel and Patience Hart. 

Tallmadge, April 9th, 1815. 
Dear Parents, (Southington) — 
Mr. Whittlesey was engaged with others in raising a log 
house (for Reuben Beach, Senior, one half mile east of the 
centre,) on Thursday, April 4th, which was nearly finished, 
when one of the logs slipped, and fell about twelve feet. In 
some way it broke his right thigh, about the middle, but he 
does not know how. It is thought the end of the log struck 
him ; but it was so sudden, he did not know his leg was broke 
till he tried to get up. „ It seems a'great favor that a surgeon 

*Mr. Whittlesey, in a letter to his father-in-law,Col. Samuel Hart, of 
Southington, May 16, 1815, writes thus : 

" The log, in falling, must have touched my back, and knocked me 
down with considerable violence, injuring my face very much. I did 
not know that my thigh was broken, or that I had received any injury, 
except in my face, till I attempted to get up ; and I doubt very much 
whether any thin? struck the thigh. I suppose the log struck my back 
when I was exerting myself to the utmost to escape, and a sudden 
.wrench of the limb broke the bone." 



104 

was there ; (Dr. Amos Wright,) and they tore off their frocks 
for bandages. They went to a house and got a blanket ; the 
doctor placed the bone, and everything that kindness could 
offer was done for him. They made a litter similar to a bier, 
with strips of bark across it, and blankets, laid him thereon, 
and in this solemn manner he was brought home, on men's 
shoulders. 

The settlement of the township is increasing rapidly. No 
less than fourteen single young men have come in since last 
June, and families are constantly moving in. It is now al- 
most morning, and Mr. Whittlesey has rested little during the 
night. 



The Same, to Mrs. Nancy Whittlesey, Southington, Conn. 

Tallmadge, March 24th, 1816. 
Dear Sis.ter — 

I have now to inform you of the sudden and awful death of 
our friend and neighbor,' Deming Whittlesey, Saturday be- 
fore last. Himself and Mr. Ira Carter were chopping (on 
the north-east diagonal, in front of Mr. George Roots' house,) 
and one tree lodged against another ; and they agreed to let 
it stand, and pick up the brush around there, before they dis- 
lodged it. They accordingly went to work, in a north-east 
direction from the tree ; and the first Mr. Carter knew of the 
falling tree, he, turning around, saw Deming under it ; as he 
supposed, lifeless. He immediately removed it, with difficul- 
ty, and for some minutes supposed him to be dead, but finally 
discovered signs of life, and ran for help 

Physicians were called, and found his leg was broken near 
the ankle ; and the bones ran into the ground three inches. 
The thigh of the same leg was also broken, and his skull dread- 
fully fractured ; and numerous bruises upon his body. He 
survived, however, twelve hours, leaving his brother Charles 
to mourn his loss. His parents, and otherrelatives, have the 
consolation that he was virtuous and amiable, in life, and pos- 
sessed of an excellent disposition. 

The prospect is now that the Academy will commence next 
winter under favorable circumstances. 



REMARKS OF MR. MARTIN CAMP. 



The success which the early settlers of this township met 
with is an excellent illustration of the motto: 
" In union there is strength." 
The first academy which stood on the spot where we are 
now assembled, was erected in 1815. It was a great under- 
taking for those times. It was a large frame building two 
stories high ; the upper part intended for an academy, 
as such schools were then called, the lower part, for 
a common or day school, as Mr. Whittlesey has said. 
We had but little money in those days — every one how- 
ever contributed something, both old andfyoung — no young 
man excused himself because he had no family. The gener- 
al sentiment was that every one must DO something. Some 
furnished timber, others helped to get it out, some labored on 
the building or sent in lumber, but the hardest part of all was 
to get the glass and nails, which required cash in hand It 
was only by our union that we became strong enough to fin- 
ish the building; when this was done we had no globes nor maps 
or any other apparatus, such as are necessary for such a 
school. 

It was intended to be, and was an establishment of high 
character for those times. 

It was put in the charge of Deacon Elizur Wright, who 
contributed most liberally toward it. The money was finally 
raised and the nails and glass purchased. 



106 

On the night of January 12th, 1820, the whole was burned 
to the ground; maps, school books, globes and every thing in 
it. The fire originated in the hearth of the upper fire-place. 
The hearth was supported by a plank, and being kept hot al- 
most the whole 24 hours, by a great log fire, from day to day, 
it is easy to see how the accident occured. 

But we were not disheartened. In 1821 it was resolved to 
build this house of worship, where we now are, and as has al- 
ready been said, it was immediately commenced. 

A voice "tell us about the new stairs." Oh yes! about 
the stairs — well, in the old school houses, and in all houses 
in those days, we went up stairs on ladders; every body be- 
came habituated to climbing a ladder,taking hold of the rounds 
with their hands, and stepping up at the same time, and the 
children knew no other way of getting up stairs. Mr. Whit- 
tlesey has made a slight mistake where he said that when I 
was married to Miss Sally Coe, she had the honor of going 
at once into a frame house; we lived three years in a log house, 
built on my farm, I beleive by Mr. Chamberlain. Miss Coe 
kept the school after it was moved to the center, and for some 
months, it was kept in the loft of Esq. Asaph Whittlesey's 
cooper shop, this stood on the corner opposite to us on the east 
side of the north and south road. The children clambered up 
the rounds of the ladder and came down backwards, step by 
step. When the academy was finished they did not know 
how to manage with the stairs. They knew no other way than 
to go up ladder fashion, and found the stairs very awkward 
— most of them took hold of the edges of the boards, with 
their hands, and crept upas they had done with the ladders, 
and came down backwards in the same way. But they man- 
aged in time to go up and down as other folks did. 



107 



CORRESPONDENCE. 

Marion, 0., May 20, 1857. 

Hon. Amos Seward, 

Dear Sir: — I have received your kind 
invitation to attend the semi-centennial celebration, on the 
24th of June, of the settlement of Tallmadge township. _ It 
will afford me great pleasure to be present on the occasion 
named, and if not prevented by business engagements, or oft- 
cial duties, I will endeavor to participate with your people m 
their approaching anniversary. 

I have the "Portage Journal," to which you refer, from 
No 1 Vol. 1, dated Sept. 28, 1825, to No. 57, Vol. 2, dated 
Oct 26 1826, inclusive, bound in book form. My connec- 
tion with the paper terminated at the latter period and it went 
into the hands of others, who continued its publication some 
time, but I have no copies issued after my separation 

The 'prospectus for a paper at Middlebury was issued by 
Laurin Dewey, some time in August 1825, to be called the 
« Ohio Canal Advocate." I was induced by Mr Dewey to 
take an interest with him in the publication, and profits of 
the paper, and on the appearance of the first number we de- 
cided to change the proposed name for that of Poitage 
Journal. Mr. Dewey transferred his interest to Elijah Mason, 
before the first number was issued, but remained himself m 
the office, and worked as a common hand, some two months 
when he left our service and that part of the country and 
enwed in newspaper publications in the State of New York. 
He° subsequently returned into Portage County and conduc- 
ed the Ohio Star, and still later published the Summit Bea- 
con Your people conferred on him the office of Sheriff of 
the old County of Portage, and after serving m that capacity 
four years he became warden of the Ohio Penitentiary, where 
he continued several years, and is now « Col. Dewey 
of Mount Pleasant, Iowa, exerting his talents and ener- 
gies to improve that section of country ;-an honorable and 
unsophisticated gentleman in the true sense of the term. 

The progress which has, in thirty-two years, been made in 
the style of newspaper printing, can be appreciated in no way 
so well as bv an actual comparison of the sheets of the two 
periods. From small demi, in size, only cnpable of contain- 



108 

ing four columns to the page, we have advanced, in the coun- 
try papers, to the double medium, containing seven or eight 
columns on each page; and the character of the types used — 
the mode of supplying ink to the form, and the improvements 
made in the press for taking impressions, and "striking off" 
copies, have been as great as the increase in size, and the ad- 
vancement made in the style of execution. A still more grati- 
fying feature of the present day, is that newspapers find more 
readers, and their owners realize better compensation than 
was formerly the case. At least such I suppose to be true. 

At the commencement of the publication of the Portage 
Journal, there were, in the " Western Reserve," according to 
my present recollection, only six newspaper establishments 
which issued papers; and they were all of the same size, and 
of similar style of workmanship of the Journal. They were 
the Western Reserve Chronicle, Warren, by Geo. Hapgood ; 
the Ashtabula Recorder, by A. S. Park ; the Painesville 
Telegraph, by E. D. Howe ; the Western Courier, by J. 
B. Butler ; the Clarion, Sandusky City, by David Campbell, 
and the Cleveland Herald, by Z. Willes. 

In putting in operation the Portage Journal, we found it 
difficult to procure the necessary materials with which to do 
the printing. The amount of money necessary to pay|for 
new ones, of the manufacturer, could not be easily raised by 
us. Mr. Willes having procured new types and press for the 
Herald office, and being about to give his paper a new dress, 
proposed to sell to us his old materials, on a credit of one 
year. We accordingly purchased of him the type, press, 
rules, chase, &c, with which the Herald had been for several 
years printed, and used the same for the Journal. This was 
the best we could do at the time. Our financial resources 
did not enable us to make any better start, and we gave the 
Journal to its readers in the very neatest dress which our 
" stock in trade " enabled us to bestow upon it. 

I have not been in your town for twenty-seven years. Its 
increase in population, and the advancement in wealth, and 
the general improvement of the condition of your people, 
must, during that long period have been very great. You 
have been permitted to witness, personally, the important 
changes as they have occurred, and feel, doubtless, warmly 
interested in the men and things of the early settlement of 
your town. Although I was not there till the perils and 



109 

hardships of the wilderness had been overcome, and civiliza- 
tion, refinement and comfort advanced and made cheerful 
your dwelling places,yet to me many recollections of events 
which transpired while I was a sojourner among you, still clus- 
ter around my memory, and will, during the residue of my 
life, retain there an imperishable place. 

I enclose two articles which I have clipped from the 2nd No. 
of the Journal, containing items which you may find interest- 
ing. If I can attend your meeting I will bring with me the 
Journal, as you request. 

Be pleased to accept for yourself and friends of Tallmadge 
assurances of my warm regard. 0. BOWEN. 

List of Letters, remaining in the Post Office at Tall- 
madge on the 30th Sept. A. D. 1825.' 

Anderson John, Brown Joseph W., Brunson Julius, Bark- 
lay David, Burke George E., Barklay Miss, Crosby Eliakim 2, 
Canfield Levi, Devoe Doct., Dwyer Simon, Derthick James, 
Elston Abel, Graham John, Hall Samuel, Hall Polly, Han- 
chett Charles, Loomis Sherman, Merriman Stephen R., 
M'Murphy Isabel 2, Polly Abner H., Paine Henry, Richard- 
son Joseph, Sumner Mary, Shippy Cornelius, Syrs Spencer, 
Stanly Jairus, Stout Safety 2, Taylor David, Vanhyning Pru- 
dence, Williams Gustavus. ASAPH WHITTLESEY, P. M. 

New York, May 26, 1857. 

Amos Seward, Esq., Ch'n. &c, 

Dear Sir — I have received the polite invitation of the 
committee to attend the " observance of the fiftieth anniver- 
sary of the settlement of the Township of Tallmadge," on 
the 24th of June next. It would be peculiarly agreeable to 
me to be present with you on this interesting occasion, as my 
venerable father was one of the earliest pioneers into that por- 
tion of your great and populous State, and ever felt a deep 
interest in its advancement. 

Having recently been placed by the partiality of my friends 
in a very responsible position in this city, I greatly fear that 
I shall be deprived of the pleasure of joining you on the 24th. 

Be good enough to tender to the committee my thanks for 
this manifestation of their regard, and accept yourself the 
assurance of respect from Yours Resp'ly, 

F. A. TALLMADGE 

fleeting adjourned to 1907. 



APPENDIX 



MUSTER ROLL 

Of a company of Riflemen (attached to the Odd Battalion in the fourth 
Brigade and fourth Division of the Ohio Militia) commanded by Cap- 
tain Rial McArthur, ordered into the service of the United States for 
the protection of the frontiers, on the twenty-second day of August, 
one thousand eight hundred and twelve ; and ending on the twenty- 
second day of February, one thousand eight hundred and thirteen, by 
the authority of Elijah Wadsworth Esq., Major General of the fourth 
division of Ohio Militia. 



1. Rial McArthur Captain 

2. Wiley Hamilton Lieut. 

3. Charles Powers Ensign 

4. Joshua King Serg't. 

5. Alpha Wright do. 

6. David Kennedy do. 

7. Luman Bishop do. 

8. Edmund Strong Corporal 

9. Drake Fellows do. 

10. Justus Barns do. 

11. Justin E. Frink do. 

12. Stephen W. Butler Drummer 

13. Ara Gillett Fifer 

14. Philander Adams Private 

15. Samuel Allyn do. 

16. James Bradley do. 

17. Henry Bierce do. 

18. Christian Cackler, Jun. do. 

19. John Campbell do. 

20. John Collins do. 

21. John Castle do. 

22. Titus Chapman • do. 



23. Samuel Cheney do. 

24. Nathaniel Darrow do. 

25. Liverton Dixon do. 

26. Thomas Ellett do. 

27. David Ellett do. 

28. Samuel Fogger do. 

29. Henry King do. 

30. Charles King do. 

31. Shabdel II. Lowrey do. 

32. Jesse Neal do. 

33. Elisha Perkins do. 

34. Stephen Perkins do. 

35. David Powers do. 

36. John S. Preston do. 

37. Samuel Preston do. 

38. David Preston, Jun. do. 

39. Lot Preston do. 

40. William Prior do. 

41. Amos Spicer, Jun. do. 

42. Norman Sacket do. 

43. Joseph Tousley do. 

44. John Wright, Jun. do. 



*Gen. Hull surrendered the army of the North-West at Detroit, Au- 
gust 181*2. On receipt of the news, Maj. Gen. Wadsworth ordered 
out a portion of his Division, and under this order Capt. MeArthur'a 
rifle company was mustered into service for a tour of six months, com- 
mencing on the 22d of August, 1812. 



Ill 



MUSTER ROLL 

Of a company of Riflemen (attached to the Odd Battalion in the fourth 
Brigade and fourth Division of Ohio Militia) commanded by Oapt. Rial 
McArthur ; ordered into the service of the United States for the pro- 
tection of the frontiers, on the twenty seventh of April,* one thousand 
eight hundred and thirteen, by the authority of the Governor. 



28. 
29. 



1. Rial McArthur Captain! 25 

2. Wiley Hamilton Lieut, j 26 

3. Charles Powers Ensign [27 

4. Alpha Wright Serg't. 

5. Justus Barns do. 

6. David Kennedy do. 

7. Samuel Cheney do. 

8. Edmund Strong Corporal 

9. Shubael H. Lowrey do. 

10. John Campbell do. 

11. Justin E Frink do. 

12. Stephen W . Butler Drummer 

13. Ara Gillet Fifer 

14. Philander Adams Private 

15. Samuel Allen do. 

16. Samuel Atkins do. 

17. Christian Cackler, Jun. do. 

18. Titus Chapman do. 

19. Nathaniel Darrow do. 

20. Liverton Dixon do. 

21. Thomas Ellett do. 

22. David Ellett do. 

23. Samuel Fogger do. 

24. Jesse Neal do. 



Asa Draper do. 

David Powers do. 

Samuel Preston do. 

Lot Preston do. 

David Prior do. 

30. Amos Spicer, Jun. do. 

31. Joseph Towsley do. 

32. John Williams do. 

33. Abner Green do. 

34. James Thompson do. 

35. Henry King do. 

36. Elisha Perkins do. 

37. John S. Preston do. 

38. Norman Sacket do. 

39. John Wright, Jun. do. 

40. Ephraim Clark, Jun. do. 

41. Aaron Norton do. 

42. Joshua King do. 

43. James Bradley do. 

44. John Collins do. 

45. Drake Fellows do. 

46. Henry Bierce do. 

47. John Castle do. 

do. 



48. David Preston, Jun. 
I certify on honor that the above Muster Roll is correct. 

RIAL McARTHUR, Capt. 
I certify this Muster Roll to be correct, the Company having to re- 
turn thirty miles to their homes. R. J. MEIGS, Gov. of Ohio. 

*On the 17th of April, 1813, Gov. R. J. Meigs wrote by express to 
Gen. Wadsworth, advising him that " the Fort at the rapids of the Mi- 
ami (Fort Meigs) was threated with an attack by British and Indians," 
and ordering him immediately to detach " one flank company to 
strengthen the post at Lower Sandusky! The post at the Rapids," he says, 
"is, I fear, too weak." 

In pursuance of this order, Gen. Wadsworth, on the 20th of April, 
ordered Capt. McArthur's company to march to Lower Sandusky im- 
mediatety, and to take with them " saj r 5 or 6 days' provisions or a suf- 
ficient allowance to take them to that place." Gen. W. says in his 
order, "you will be shortly relieved, as a large number of troops are on 
their march to reinfoFce that army." * 

Capt. McArthur's Company was mustered under the above-mention- 
ed requisition and order on the 22d day of April, 1813. 

The originals of these Muster Rolls and orders are in the possession 
of Fred'k. Wadsworth, Esq., of Akron, being among the papers of his 
late father, Gen. Elijah Wadsworth, of Canfield, now Mahoning Co. O.. 









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